Nodirbek Abdusattorov has already collected a highlight reel most players would take for a whole career — and he did the loudest of it as a teenager. Because so much of his story is about who he beat and when, we’ll walk through his most important games and results in prose — the verified facts and what made each one special — rather than reconstructing move-by-move scores we can’t confirm. When you want to replay the actual moves, the best sources are his Chess.com player page and public game databases.
1. The 2021 World Rapid Championship run — beating Carlsen and the world
This is the one that put Nodirbek on the map for good. At the World Rapid Championship in Warsaw in December 2021, a 17-year-old from Tashkent tore through one of the strongest fields ever assembled. Along the way he defeated a murderer’s row of elite grandmasters — Levon Aronian, Boris Gelfand, Fabiano Caruana, and, most famously, the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen.
He finished the 13-round event on 9½/13, part of a four-way tie for first. Then, in the tiebreak playoff, he beat Ian Nepomniachtchi to seal it. The record books rewrote themselves: at 17 years and 3 months, Nodirbek became the youngest World Rapid Champion in history, and the youngest open world champion across any time control — a mark that had belonged to Carlsen. Beating the best player alive on the way to a world title, as a teenager, is about as dramatic a breakthrough as chess offers.
2. Uzbekistan’s Olympiad gold, 2022 — leading from board 1
If the World Rapid title was a personal triumph, the 2022 Chess Olympiad in Chennai was a team one — and Nodirbek was the engine. Playing board 1 for Uzbekistan, he anchored a young, fearless squad to a stunning team gold medal, the country’s first. Uzbekistan finished level on match points with Armenia and took gold on tiebreaks after a nerve-jangling final stretch.
Nodirbek’s personal contribution was superb: he posted a plus score against a parade of top opponents and earned an individual silver medal for his board-one performance. Winning an Olympiad from the top board, against the world’s best national teams, is one of the hardest jobs in chess — and he did it at 17. It confirmed that the World Rapid title was no fluke and that Uzbekistan had a genuine leader.
3. Prague Masters 2024 — a classical super-tournament title
Rapid and blitz brilliance is one thing; proving it over slow, classical chess against the elite is the real test — and Nodirbek passed it. At the 2024 Prague International Chess Festival (Masters), he won the tournament outright with a score of 6½/9, seeing off a strong classical field. The victory helped power his surge up the live rating list, and around that time he climbed all the way to world No. 4. For a player sometimes pigeonholed as a “fast-chess specialist,” a clean classical super-tournament win was the perfect answer.
4. London Chess Classic 2025 — winning by two clear points
At the 2025 London Chess Classic, Nodirbek didn’t just win — he ran away with it. He finished on 7½/9, a full two points clear of the field, wrapping up the title with a round to spare. Dominating a strong classical event by that margin is rare at the top level, where draws are common and margins are thin. It was one of the most emphatic performances of his career and a reminder that on his day, he can simply outclass elite opposition.
5. Tata Steel Masters 2026 — chess’s crown-jewel classical event
There’s no more prestigious annual classical tournament than the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee, whose roll of honor reads like a list of world champions. In 2026, Nodirbek added his name to it, winning with a commanding 9/13. He’d come agonizingly close before — he was part of a four-way tie for first in 2024 (losing the blitz playoff to Wei Yi) and shared second place with Carlsen in 2023 — so finally lifting the trophy closed a circle. Winning Tata Steel is a rite of passage for the very best; Nodirbek is now on that list.
6. The 2025 World Blitz final — silver against Carlsen
Not every great game is a win. At the 2025 World Blitz Championship in Doha, Nodirbek fought his way to the final, beating Arjun Erigaisi convincingly in the semifinals, before running into Magnus Carlsen in the title match. The two traded blows — Nodirbek even won the opening game — but Carlsen edged the match 2½–1½, with his famous endgame technique deciding the last game. Nodirbek took silver, his first World Blitz medal. Pushing the greatest blitz player of all time to the wire, in a world final, is its own kind of masterpiece.
Why these games matter
Step back and a pattern jumps out. Nodirbek’s signature results aren’t quiet points against lower-rated players — they’re big-stage results against the strongest opponents alive: Carlsen, Caruana, Nepomniachtchi, Aronian, Gelfand, Erigaisi. He raises his game when the lights are brightest and the field is fiercest, across every time control from classical to blitz. That’s the profile of a future World Championship contender, not just a fun young talent.
Want to understand how he does it? See Abdusattorov’s playing style for the strengths behind the scoreboard, or dig into his openings to see the lines he trusts under pressure. The numbers side of the story is in his rating history.
FAQ
What is Nodirbek Abdusattorov’s most famous game? Most fans point to his 2021 World Rapid Championship, where he beat reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen during the event on his way to becoming the youngest World Rapid Champion in history.
Did Abdusattorov beat Carlsen? Yes — most famously at the 2021 World Rapid Championship. Carlsen has also beaten him, including the 2025 World Blitz final, so it’s a two-way rivalry.
What big tournaments has Abdusattorov won? Among others: the 2021 World Rapid Championship, the 2024 Prague Masters, the 2025 London Chess Classic, and the 2026 Tata Steel Masters — plus team gold at the 2022 Chess Olympiad.
How did Uzbekistan win Olympiad gold in 2022? A young Uzbek team, led by Abdusattorov on board 1, won the open section of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, finishing level with Armenia and taking gold on tiebreaks. Nodirbek also won an individual silver for his board-one play.
Keep exploring
Back to the Abdusattorov profile · his playing style · his openings · his rating history · 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.