Prateek Tanmay
3 min readNew DelhiJun 7, 2026 11:42 PM IST
A cold day awaited the Indian players in Tashkent during the opening round of the 2026 Uzchess Masters. The highest-ranked Indian, Arjun Erigaisi, was held to a draw by the considerably lower-rated Shamsiddin Vokhidov, while the other Indian in the fray, Vidit Gujrathi, suffered a heavy blow at the hands of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on Sunday.
The Azerbaijani veteran Mamedyarov snatched the full point from the experienced Indian. He risked steering the game into an extremely complex middlegame, a gamble that worked perfectly in his favour. Mamedyarov induced errors from Vidit to gain an extra pawn in the rook endgame. Yet the position remained double-edged, where one misstep could render the extra pawn meaningless.
Vidit fought valiantly for most of the endgame before a single lapse in judgment cost him the game. He failed to build a pawn fortress and eventually folded in 67 moves, after battling for over five hours.
In the Arjun vs. Vokhidov clash, the 124-point Elo gap proved less decisive. In the Caro-Kann game, the 2637-rated Vokhidov turned out to be more than a match for World No. 9 Arjun with the light pieces. In a clean game where both players traded pieces at regular intervals, Arjun could never secure any edge that offered winning chances. The local lad Vokhidov played with 97.6 percent accuracy, forcing Arjun to split the point and, in the process, costing him 1.7 Elo points on the live rating list.
Meanwhile, newly minted World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov was deservedly enjoying a break from his relentless chess schedule, basking on the shores of Monaco and treating himself to the roar of Formula 1 engines at the Monaco GP while deciding to opt out of the event. In his absence, however, his second and last-minute replacement in the home event, Mukhiddin Madaminov, set the tone of the event by taking down Russian giant Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Madaminov, whose stock has only risen since seconding Sindarov during his exceptional run to the World Cup and Candidates victory, is the lowest-rated player in the event. That did not stop him from toppling two-time Candidates winner Nepomniachtchi in the opening round with the white pieces, in just 33 moves.
Having arrived at the event fresh from winning the Grand Chess Tour 2026 Super Rapid & Blitz Poland, Hans Niemann also endured a mercurial start. He lost to Greek GM Nikolas Theodorou, the second-lowest-rated player in the tournament, opening his campaign on a sombre note.
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Uzbek No. 1 Nodirbek Abdusattorov didn’t risk much in the opening round against compatriot Nodirbek Yakubboev and played a safe threefold repetition draw to end the game in just 26 moves.
UzChess Cup 2026 – Masters Leaderboard after 1st round
1. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) – 1
2. Nikolas Theodorou (GRE) – 1
3. Mukhiddin Madaminov (UZB) – 1
4. Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) – 0.5
5. Shamsiddin Vokhidov (UZB) – 0.5
6. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) – 0.5
7. Arjun Erigaisi (IND) – 0.5
8. Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) – 0
9. Vidit Gujrathi (IND) – 0
10. Hans Moke Niemann (USA) – 0
