Nodirbek Abdusattorov is the Uzbek grandmaster who announced himself to the world in the loudest way imaginable: at 17 years and 3 months old, in December 2021, he won the World Rapid Championship — beating the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen along the way — to become the youngest world champion in any time format in chess history. He’s since led Uzbekistan to Olympiad team gold, climbed to world No. 4, and established himself as the standard-bearer of a remarkable new Uzbek chess generation.
Quick facts
- Full name: Nodirbek Fazliddin oʻgʻli Abdusattorov · Born: 18 September 2004, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
- Title: Grandmaster (earned in April 2018, at age 13 years, 1 month, 11 days)
- Peak rating: 2783 (October 2024) — briefly world No. 4
- Biggest title: 2021 World Rapid Champion — the youngest ever, across all time formats
- Style: fearless, universal attacker with razor calculation and ice-cool nerves
Who is Nodirbek Abdusattorov?
Born in Tashkent in 2004, Nodirbek — “Nodi” to many fans — was a prodigy almost from the moment he touched the pieces. He took up chess as a small child and was awarded the FIDE Master title in 2012, when he was barely eight years old. The International Master title followed in September 2016, and then, in April 2018, he became a grandmaster at the astonishing age of 13 years, 1 month, and 11 days — one of the youngest GMs in the history of the game.
But titles are one thing; beating the best players alive is another. Nodirbek did that in the most public arena chess has. In Warsaw in December 2021, he stormed the World Rapid Championship, taking down elite names like Levon Aronian, Boris Gelfand, Fabiano Caruana, and Magnus Carlsen himself, finishing in a four-way tie for first, then beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in a nerve-shredding tiebreak. At 17 years and 3 months, he became the youngest World Rapid Champion ever — and the youngest open world champion in any time control, breaking a record that had belonged to Carlsen.
What is Abdusattorov’s playing style?
Nodirbek is a fearless, universal player. He calculates deeply, he’s happy to sacrifice material for an attack, and he has the kind of nerve that lets him play for a win against anyone, anywhere. What sets him apart from a pure “attacking prodigy,” though, is his all-round completeness: he grinds endgames with real patience, defends stubbornly, and reads messy middlegames beautifully. Add in his elite results across rapid and blitz — the fastest, most chaotic formats — and you get a player who is dangerous in every phase of the game and every time control.
We break it all down with examples in Abdusattorov’s playing style.
What openings does Nodirbek Abdusattorov play?
As White, Nodirbek is a classical 1.e4 player — you’ll see him steer into the Italian Game and the Ruy Lopez, and dive happily into the Open Sicilian when opponents meet him with 1…c5. As Black he’s flexible and combative: the Sicilian Defense when he wants to fight for a win, and rock-solid Queen’s Gambit Declined structures against 1.d4.
See the full repertoire in Abdusattorov’s openings.
Career highlights
- 2018: earns the grandmaster title at 13 years, 1 month, 11 days — among the youngest GMs ever.
- 2021: wins the World Rapid Championship in Warsaw at 17 — the youngest world champion in any format in history — beating Carlsen, Caruana, Aronian, and Gelfand en route.
- 2022: plays board 1 for Uzbekistan at the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai and wins team gold, adding an individual silver medal for his board-one performance.
- 2024: wins the Prague Masters, and climbs to a peak of world No. 4 on the live rating list — a peak classical FIDE rating of 2783 (October 2024).
- 2025: wins the London Chess Classic by two clear points, and takes silver at the World Blitz Championship, losing the final to Carlsen.
- 2026: wins the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee — one of the sport’s most prestigious classical titles.
More detail on the numbers lives in his rating history.
The best games
Nodirbek’s résumé is stuffed with big-stage scalps — Carlsen and Caruana in the World Rapid, elite wins across the classical super-tournaments, and a run of trophies that keeps growing. We’ve collected the standouts in Abdusattorov’s best games.
Fun facts
- His 2021 World Rapid title made him the youngest open world chess champion in history across any time control — a record previously held by Magnus Carlsen.
- He carried Uzbekistan on board 1 to a stunning Olympiad team gold in 2022 — the country’s first — as the leader of a young Uzbek squad that shocked the chess world.
- He became a grandmaster before his 14th birthday, one of the youngest ever to earn the title.
- He’s routinely one of the very best fast-chess players on Earth, reaching the World Blitz final in 2025 — proof his talent isn’t tied to any one time control.
FAQ
Who is Nodirbek Abdusattorov? An Uzbek grandmaster, born in 2004 in Tashkent, who became the youngest World Rapid Champion ever in 2021 (aged 17), led Uzbekistan to Olympiad gold in 2022, and has since climbed into the world’s top handful of players.
How old was Abdusattorov when he became a grandmaster? 13 years, 1 month, and 11 days, with the title awarded in April 2018 — one of the youngest grandmasters in history.
What is Nodirbek Abdusattorov’s highest rating? A classical FIDE peak of 2783, reached in October 2024, when he was briefly ranked world No. 4.
Did Abdusattorov beat Magnus Carlsen? Yes — most famously at the 2021 World Rapid Championship, where he beat the reigning World Champion during the event on his way to the title. Carlsen has also beaten him, including the 2025 World Blitz final.
Is Nodirbek Abdusattorov a World Champion? He’s the 2021 World Rapid Champion. He has not (yet) won the classical World Championship, but he’s firmly among the world’s elite in his early twenties.
Keep exploring
Go deeper: his best games · his playing style · his opening repertoire · his rating history · fun facts & records · or browse all chess players.
Written and fact-checked by the Chess Lab Academy Editorial Team · Facts verified against Wikipedia, his FIDE profile, and Chess.com, as of July 2026 · Last verified 2026-07-10 · How we verify content.