the 20-year-old Uzbek has kept himself in the thick of tournament action as he builds towards his showdown against Gukesh in November– the youngest World Championship match in history While the months before a title match can often mean retreating into a preparation bunker. Bengaluru: Javokhir Sindarov is taking a less-travelled route to the World Championship match.
Unlike the World Cup and Candidates, which he has won, the World Championship is a starkly different challenge. In the Uzbekistan Championships, I would celebrate when he lost and he too would celebrate when I lost. “When he has a bad tournament, everyone starts saying a lot of things about his chess. I played a lot with Nodirbek (Abdusattorov) when we were young. So, for me, it’s normal.”
Maybe he really needed to do it so that before the match, he starts feeling a little bit confident.
I’m also mentally very well prepared,” he said, “I grew up playing tournaments where my opponents were always doing this.
The World Championship isn’t his ultimate goal. “I think I’m becoming a strong chess player. Of course, the match is very important, but in general, I want to be the best chess player in the world.”
I’m trying to stabilise my rating above 2750 and stay in the top 10. My goal is to become a 2800 player.
The Global Chess League, which starts on September 5 in Bengaluru, is next. To me, Gukesh’s best form was in the 2022 Olympiad, also the 2024 one too. Because i only became a top chess player this year and I didn’t play any top chess events, apart from Tata Steel Chess and Candidates, “I think it’s good for me to play classical tournaments.
He has played five tournaments since May, with the Sinquefield Cup being the only classical event among them. It will be followed by the Olympiad. “I agree I’ve been playing a lot of tournaments, most of them Rapid and Blitz. After the Olympiad, I will join a training camp and start working really hard for the match. “When Gukesh beat my record, I knew he’s going to be a strong player. I never predicted he would become world champion. He played very well in the Candidates but I don’t think it was his peak form. I was really impressed by his games from the Olympiad though. There is a lot to learn from them. The match will be very hard for both of us but I suppose it’s better when you’ve played a match at least once.
He says the busy schedule is not draining him; if anything, it is helping a player who has only recently broken into the top tier get more comfortable playing elite opposition. The thing with Rapid and Blitz is I enjoy it; it doesn’t take up energy and I don’t feel pressure,” Sindarov told Hindustan Times in an interview. “Vishy was a very strong player,” he said.
