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Prince’s gambit: Sindarov, 19, is crowned youngest chess WC winner
Sindarov won the second rapid tie-break to clinch the final 2.5-1.5 and the crown previously held by Magnus Carlsen
The glint in Javokhir Sindarov’s eyes, more child-like than champion-like, beamed brighter than the glitter on the trophy as he took a first glance at it, moments after the Chess World Cup final.
“When I saw it for the first time, I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a very beautiful trophy’,” Sindarov said in his interview with Fide, placing his hand on it for a split second.
That trophy, named after Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand, is now his.
The 19-year-old Grandmaster from Uzbekistan was crowned champion of the 2025 World Cup — held in Anand’s country for the first time since 2002 and by the beaches of Goa — by defeating Chinese GM Wei Yi in the tie-breaks on Wednesday.
Embraced by his family and team outside the playing arena who wrapped an Uzbek flag around his shoulders, Sindarov became the youngest World Cup champion. With a spot in next year’s Candidates to determine the challenger to world champion D Gukesh also sealed, this World Cup of top prospects faltering and seeds tumbling turned out to be a dream for the 16th seed with a rating of 2,721.
After drawing the two classical games with the higher-rated and more experienced Yi, Sindarov won the second rapid tie-break to clinch the final 2.5-1.5 and the crown previously held by Magnus Carlsen.
These coveted crowns in chess are increasingly adorned by a bunch of teens. To go with this 19-year-old champion, the Women’s World Cup in July this year was also won by 19-year-old Indian Divya Deshmukh. Last December, Gukesh became the classical world champion at 18. All the three are the youngest holders of their respective titles.
“I’m very happy to become a champion, for sure,” Sindarov said. “But it’s only the start of my chess career.”
The start of his chess journey was accompanied by great promise. A contemporary of Indian prodigies R Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh, the Tashkent-born Sindarov’s early aspirations in the sport were shaped by his grandfather, who took his chess lessons and challenged him to be one of the youngest GMs.
In 2018, at 12 years and 10 months, Sindarov duly did. He became the then second-youngest GM in history, months after Praggnanandhaa had achieved the feat. A significant goal ticked off nice and early, the young Uzbek’s motivation and career trajectory stagnated a bit. Watching his fellow teen Indian GMs continue their upward march in the ratings, incidentally, rekindled his own drive.
“My goal, and what my grandfather kept telling me, was to become one of the youngest GMs. Once I became that, I did not know what other goals there were (for me to set). I spent 1-2 years with my friends,” said Sindarov.
“Then I saw Indian players like Pragg, Nihal (Sarin), Gukesh growing very fast and becoming 2,600 players. I was going at 2,500 from 2019-2022. That’s when I realised that if I don’t work a lot, I will not become a top chess player.”
It helped that Uzbekistan had a generation of players “with a lot of ambition” that won some key tournaments. At the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, Uzbekistan won the gold in the Open section. At the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, the men’s team took the bronze. Sindarov, who crossed the 2,700 mark in classical later that year, was part of both those teams.
The Olympiad gold changed things in his country. Medallists were gifted cars and rewarded monetarily. The sport boomed and the players turned “national heroes”, as Sindarov put it. After the final ended on Wednesday, Sindarov said one of the many congratulatory praises that he received came from Uzbekistan President, Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
“Hopefully, this will give a lot of motivation to the kids in the country, and we will see a lot of young generation coming up,” Sindarov said.
The Uzbek’s own motivation, and his quest to be higher up among the top of the chess elite where his Indian contemporaries sit, has been lifted by his brilliant run in a World Cup where those very Indians were touted to go all the way. However, as Sindarov kept reiterating after his triumph, he wants this to be just the start for him.
