Uzbek grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov has made his way into the top five strongest chess players in the world in the dynamic (online) rating, ranking 11th in the International Chess Federation's list as of February.
Abdusattorov improved his rating during the Prague International Chess Festival, a classical chess event in Prague taking place from February 27 to March 7.
The 19-year-old Uzbek player achieved victories over grandmasters Thai Dai Van Nguyen, David Navara, and Mateusz Bartel, boosting his Elo rating by 11.1 points and rising to the fifth spot in the global rankings. He surpassed Alireza Firouzja and Jan Nepomniachtchi, with less than one point separating him from world champion Ding Liren.
Previously, Abdusattorov set a record for Uzbek chess players by becoming the highest-rated player a year ago, now breaking into the world's top ten. Only Rustam Kasimdzhanov had reached the 11th spot with a peak rating of 2715 before him.
Abdusattorov also leads the FIDE world rankings for the best young chess players.
The Prague Chess Festival 2024 is a super tournament of category 19, featuring three participants from the Candidates Tournament: Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Santosh Gujrathi Vidit, and Dommaraju Gukesh. Alongside them are Abdusattorov, Vincent Keymer, Richard Rapport, Parham Maghsoodloo, ten-time Czech champion David Navara, four-time Polish champion Mateusz Bartel, and another local representative Thai Dai Van Nguyen.
The tournament is rated category 19 with an average participant rating of 2710 (similar to Wijk aan Zee). It follows a round-robin format consisting of 9 rounds, with a time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes until the end of the game with a 30-second increment from move one.
In January, Abdusattorov competed in the Tata Steel Chess super tournament against elite chess players, securing six wins, five draws, and two losses over 13 rounds.
