Nobody came close!
The Uzbekistan Open team has done it again! After stunning the chess world by winning the Olympiad in 2022, they are champions once again, this time on home soil at the 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad!
We caught up with the gold medal-winning team after the closing ceremony to relive the key moments, the pressure of playing at home, and the team spirit behind the title.
Interview by Sagar Shah
Sagar Shah: Congratulations, guys, you have won the gold! In 2022, we had an interview. Four years later, you guys are champions again, this time in Uzbekistan. How are you feeling?
Sindarov: We feel fantastic. Very happy to win the Olympic gold medal in our country. We are very proud to become champions in our home country, where everyone supports us.
Sagar: You have won a beautiful trophy. I want to start this interview with your game, Javokhir, the queen sacrifice (against Diego Saul Rodri from Peru). I think it was very beautiful: 31...Kf7 and then 32...Rh3. What a game!
Sindarov: The game was interesting, but in the end, you know, it was just a choice. Any other move was around nine or ten moves long, but 31...Kf7 was just making some aura. I was thinking during the game that maybe I shouldn't play this move, but in the end I decided, okay, come on, let's play for some videos, for some content, real stuff. (laughs) But it's an easy move. I won't say it's something crazy.
Sagar: Nodirbek, you have two gold medals. You were incredible on board one, like a machine. You didn't lose a game. You won game after game. Brilliant play!
Nodirbek: I am extremely happy to be part of this incredible team. These guys are simply the best on their boards, and in chess in general. They all belong in the top ten. They play at a very high level. I am lucky to have such strong teammates, and I am proud to be here with the boys, with everyone. I did my job on the first board. I played very safe at times and won some games as well. I worked very hard before this tournament so I wouldn't let the team down, and I am very happy that I succeeded.
Sagar: Yakubboev, you were the guy who won so many critical games. Against Turkey, you scored the win. Against India, you scored the win again.
Yakubboev: This time I had this role, let's say: winning important games. But the other teammates also performed very well. It wasn't planned. It wasn't a planned situation. Somehow I finished last, and I somehow managed to win. But I am happy to get a point for our team. This time I had this role. (Smiles)
Sagar: Tell us about your game with Nihal, this 39...Nxh4, this 39. gxh4+ Nxh4. What a moment that was. Maybe the most important moment of the Olympiad, would you say?
Yakubboev: I think so, because the match against India was the most important for us. It decided the whole standings. After that match, we could really fight for a medal. If we had lost that match, I don't think we would have tried to win this medal. It was important. And he missed that 38. Ne6+ check. I saw it earlier, when he took on g5. I saw ...Kg7, which is a winning move. When he took on g5, I felt a bit happy. Then I played 37. g3, and it was already a complicated game. I was not worse; I was in the game. ...Kg7 was the decisive moment for our team.
Nodirbek: He wasn't the only one who was happy after 36...Kg5. We were all watching his game like crazy. We went crazy after 38...Ne6+. Our chat was screaming.
Sagar: Were you doing live commentary, or were you just watching privately?
Sindarov: On Lichess.
Sagar: Shamsiddin, you played 11...b5 against Gukesh in the opening. I think it was an incredible hold with the black pieces, and a very important game. You gave him no chance.
Shamsiddin: Yeah, I know the lines. It was preparation. I saw it one or two months ago, not on the preparation day. I just remembered it. I know that after b5 it's easy to equalize. We are all happy to have won. We won all the important matches: USA, India and China. We are all happy.
Sagar: Mukhiddin, I have to tell you, the last round you played was so good. And you had another victory yesterday. That was just insane. How did you find those amazing moves like 29. d5 and 30. h5?
Mukhiddin: In general, I am very happy. I didn't feel a lot of pressure on this team, since I have a very strong team, as you can see. I just tried to play simple chess, and if I got a chance, I tried to use it. Yesterday, when I was playing against Sargissian Gabriel, I felt after the opening that my position was slightly better, so I started to push.
At some point it was close to equal, but then he missed it and blundered with 27...Qb7. I played 28. Bb5. I felt that 28...Nd8 was very bad. I pushed 29. d5, and after he took on d5, I played 30. h5. I felt that his king was in trouble, so that's why I went for it.
Sagar: Amazing. Nodirbek, Javokhir spoke about this aura moment. I think you playing 1.e4 d5 was one such aura moment. There's a nice reel where you played it, everyone smiled, and then you smiled too.
Nodirbek: Yeah. I told them about twenty minutes before the game that I would play d5, and everyone went crazy. At first they didn't believe I would play it, and then when they saw.
Yakubboev: But we discussed it in the team meeting.
Nodirbek: Yeah, we discussed it briefly in the team meeting. I had some options, like ...c5, the Caro-Kann or the Scandinavian, but I said I would decide myself. In preparation, I saw that he has no practice at all in the Scandinavian, so I tried it against him, and it worked. The whole idea was inspired by Arjun, as I said. He played it in the last round in Budapest and won a nice game, so I also tried to steal his aura.
Sagar: And Javokhir, you played Nf3 and b3 (against Robert Hovhannisyan from Armenia) with such good preparation. I think you were prepared until around move 20.
Javokhir: Yeah, but because of that good preparation, it was just equal in the end. But my opponent somehow played a really bad game in this match. I got lucky. He started giving me his first and second pawns; I captured all of them, and I won a game I didn't expect to win. I was really shocked by how my opponent played. Robert is generally a very solid player, but in this game he somehow played really badly, which surprised me. But it was good preparation. Sometimes you need to be lucky to win this tournament.
Sagar: Today, against Ivanchuk, was also a tough game.
Javokir: Yeah, a very tough game.
Sagar: At one point you thought for 40 minutes and played 14...Na5.
Javokhir: Yeah, I was trying to remember the line because I had seen it somewhere before the tournament. I was checking that line because I had played some blitz games here. Then somehow I forgot it, and I tried to remember the best equalizing move, but I couldn't. It was a very unhappy moment. I tried to remember for 40 minutes, but I didn't find it. I played a move of my own, and it really wasn't a good one. Then he got some advantage, but I managed to draw, which made the team happy, and we won. When I draw, I understand that we will win the match easily.
Sagar: Amazing. And guys, whenever you won, there was so much celebration. It was very heartwarming to see people care about chess so much. There were hugs, and so much energy. Was there pressure on all of you playing in your country? There were so many eyes on you. I think the Prime Minister of the country was also visiting, and he is also the president of the Uzbek chess federation. Was there pressure, or was it only "we have to do it"?
Mukhiddin: For me, the beginning of the tournament was very hard, as I said before. There was so much pressure on me in the first two rounds. But after that, I started playing, and my self-confidence got better. Then we believed in ourselves. And the match against India was important too. After that match, I think we really believed we were going to win.
Sagar: Amazing. Nodirbek, did you feel any pressure?
Nodirbek: I would say I felt a little pressure because we were playing in our own country. It's always a bit difficult. We also know how India played in Chennai. They were very close, but at some critical moments they made mistakes. They were nervous, and they couldn't win the whole thing. This time, I think we showed our absolute best. Everyone played amazing chess. We spent a lot of time together before the event, and I think we were in good physical shape and good form. We needed to prepare ourselves for that pressure and that environment, with a huge crowd watching our games every day and rooting for us. It was an unbelievable tournament, incomparable with any other event we have played so far. We are extremely happy that we managed to bring this trophy back to our country after Chennai. I think with this kind of team, we will have many more victories to come. Thank you.
Sagar: Shamsiddin, you have each won 200,000 dollars, if I am not mistaken. I saw that. And the President has written such a beautiful message praising each one of you. He also wrote about Jakhongir. How does it feel?
Shamsiddin: I feel happy because our President supports chess. He takes care of us.
twitter.com/i/status/2104435972637335933
Sagar: Yakubboev, a few words about Rustam, the coach of the team. I think he was always there, even when you guys won. At one point you won, and he hugged you. I have never seen him with so many emotions.
Yakubboev: As I mentioned, he is our hero because we grew up watching his achievements and his games. If it weren't for him, maybe some of us wouldn't be playing chess. It's always nice to have your own captain, not one from another country. He is kind of your person, your man. He knows us very well. He knows our character, how we feel during the game, and how we think during the game. It was really nice to have him as our captain.
Yakubboev: I would also like to thank my other coaches. I have been working with Roman Vidonyak for more than a year. My second coach, I don't want to say his name. I am really happy to have him on my team.
Sagar: Is there anyone else you would like to thank? Any of you?
Sindarov: Many thanks to everyone's parents, Mr. President, Alisher Zafarovich Saʼdullayev. There are many people. My coach, Roman. My team members' coaches. Because of a lot of people, we became strong players. I want to thank all the fans who support us every day. Thanks to the government for organizing this event. We enjoyed it. Of course, because we were playing in our home country, it was the best Olympiad we have played. We really loved it. Hopefully, with this team, I will try to play in other tournaments for gold medals.
Nodirbek: I also want to mention my coaches. Unfortunately, I can't reveal them. (laughs) I have people working for me behind the scenes, and I would like to thank them. We spent a lot of time together before this event. Each of them has their own part in this success. I would like to thank our government, our president and our prime minister for making it all possible, for the conditions they provided, and for organizing and hosting such a beautiful event. I hope everyone enjoyed Samarkand. Everyone is always welcome, whether from another country or from any other chess fans. We just enjoy having them. Thank you.
Sagar: We enjoyed it a lot in Uzbekistan. I have one last thing to ask you. You are such an amazing team. Say one quality about the person next to you that you like a lot. Mukhiddin, you say it about Javokhir, Javokhir about Nodirbek, Nodirbek about Yakubboev and Yakubboev about Shamsiddin.
Mukhiddin: (About Javokhir) Anti-motivator.
Sagar: What is that?
Mukhiddin: It's the person who always kills your motivation.
Sagar: Why do you do that? Why do you kill motivation?
Javokhir: I give him motivation, which he thinks is killing his motivation. The best motivation is when you start bullying your teammate or your brother. He is not just a teammate; he is my second and my brother. We spend time together, and I like to bully him sometimes. That's why he said that. About Nodirbek, one quality: a leader.
Nodirbek: (About Yakubboev) An amazing player, an incredible talent. He has many qualities. At this point, he already belongs in the top ten. If I have to mention one quality, it's his fighting spirit and his willingness to win.
Yakubboev: Thank you very much. Shamsiddin is a silent killer. He doesn't speak a lot, but when he says something, like when he suggests some lines in the openings, we always believe him, because when he speaks, he is 100% sure.
Mukhiddin: He is always the man we can trust.
Yakubboev: He speaks only when he is 100% sure, so we don't argue with him. Silent killer!
Sagar: Amazing. Shamsiddin, what about Mukhiddin?
Shamsiddin: He is a good boy.
Yakubboev: We would say he is energetic.
Sagar: It's done.
Sindarov: Thank you so much for being in Uzbekistan. See you at the next tournament.
Nodirbek: See you in Geneva! (Looks at Sindarov and smiles)
Sagar: Please take some rest, and thank you so much!
Check out the entire video interview:
