The 11th season of the prestigious Grand Chess Tour series has kicked off in Warsaw, bringing together the world's strongest grandmasters. Traditionally, the marathon opened with rapid and blitz tournaments, featuring a bright representative of the Uzbek chess school, Javokhir Sindarov.

The first days of competition were mixed for the Uzbek player. In the rapid discipline, Sindarov started confidently: he drew with American Hans Niemann and Polish Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the opening rounds, and secured an important victory over another local player, Radosław Wojtaszek, in the third round. However, the second game day proved extremely tough – Javokhir lost all three games, falling to Wesley So, reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. After six rounds, Sindarov has 4 points and occupies 9th place. Hans Niemann and Wesley So lead the table with 9 points each.

The 2026 tournament features not only a star-studded lineup but also stricter rules. To increase spectacle, players are forbidden from offering draws – a peaceful outcome is only recorded by the referee in case of threefold repetition or the 50-move rule. Strict penalties for lateness have also been introduced: a delay of more than 3 minutes in rapid or blitz results in a technical loss.

Javokhir Sindarov is participating in the tournament via a wildcard invitation. Ahead of the participants are 18 more rounds of blitz marathon, which will be decisive in distributing the prize fund of $200,000. The top four players at the end of the season will earn spots in the grand final, scheduled for December with a prize fund of $450,000.

Source: podrobno.uz