Abdusattrov wins The London Chess Classic

Previously, in one of my Hivechess lecture posts, I showcased an insightful game play by Abdusattrov, which was the case study for that lecture. I even went on to make a prediction that I hope he wins the London Chess Classic, and guess what? He did. He finished the tournament with an impressive 7.5 out of 9 points. In contrast, second place went to the French grandmaster Alireza Firouzja, who finished with 5.5 points.

This is a full 2-point gap between 1st and 2nd. The most impressive shot comes from when Abdusattrov went on a 6-game winning streak right from the second game of the tournament, all the way through to the 7th game. This is something that was well spoken about; the chances of having such a straightforward result like that are hard to come by, especially when there are grandmasters in the tournament as well.

The event will take place at the Emirate stadium and Novotel West, with the presence of 10 grandmasters in a round robin setting. So you can see why the six straight wins were impressive, all 2600 rated and above. The first round was a bit slow for the tournament winner, with a draw against GM Maroroa Jones, Gawain, which cost him a reduction of 1 point due to the rating difference. But by the time it was time for a fight, Abdusattrov took the bull by horn, which got place in round 2. He brought down one of America's strongest prodigies, Mishra Abhimanyu.

It did not stop there. He brought down Vitiugov Nikita, who was formerly a 2700-rated grandmaster but is currently down to 2657. It sure was a fight for this one as well, but bringing him down was only a boost for me for more rounds to come. The fire kept going for the next couple of rounds.

Next up against Adams, Michael, one of England's finest, was defeated as well. Nikolas Theodorou, who is well known for playing a lot of online chess on chess.com. He is well known for playing a lot of bullet games, and he was brought down, too. It was all a roadmap of grandmaster takedowns for Abdusattrov in the tournament.

It only took Alireza in the penultimate round to bring down the highest Uzbek player. It was not an easy one, but it came from a place of strength. During the post-match interview with Abdusattrov, He said he could have played on, but instead he chose to take the draw. This gave the tournament win with a round to spare.

It is highly expected that the last round would end in a draw for Abdusattrov since he did not have much to fight for anymore. He has won the tournament and is only playing for his ELO rating. The tournament was truly an impressive one for Abdusattrov, where he had a rating performance of 2932. Truly impressive, and that is not all, he got a rating advantage of +19,3 to his already 2750. What an impressive boost. I can wait to see how high up the rating ladder he is going to jump.

The game of chess has now been taken over by the young prodigies, with players performing well in different events. Abdusattrov winning the London Classics, Sindarov winning the FIDE World Cup, and Gukesh being the world champion. I am in high anticipation of the candidate tournament, which will simply be a clash of the OGs against the youngsters.

_{I am @samostically, a chess player and writer. I love to share the experience I have gained from different battles over the 64 squares and the knowledgeable insights from books I have read. But most importantly, I am a Midnight Owl and I founded the community Midnight Letters.}

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