Prague 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n the strict examiner Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine<\/em><\/p>\n Playing against Nodirbek Abdusattorov, many players may already feel today the opponent\u2019s strong psychological pressure. Well, just wait a few more years, it will get even worse! <\/em><\/p>\n The universally recognised World Champion Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (1892-1946) allowed his opponents only two draws here, only to win the tournament in Yugoslav Bled a year later with an even bigger lead of 5.5 points! It was probably there that Nimzowitsch uttered the famous phrase: \u201eHe plays with us like with unfledged birds!\u201c<\/p>\n Although the complete world elite was far from assembled in Prague, all three Indian super-grandmasters certainly took the tournament as a rehearsal before the rapidly approaching Candidates Tournament, Nodirbek\u2019s lead of 1.5 points after nine rounds speaks for itself. What is the secret of the Uzbek youngster\u2019s performance edge? After all, he broke into the 2700+ super-grandmaster group only<\/em> in September 2022 and for quite a long time remained somewhat in the shadow of both the Indian prodigies and, of course, Alireza Firouzja.<\/p>\n Nodirbek is a universally equipped chess player who certainly works many hours daily. Only relatively recently have I noticed a trait that probably distinguishes him not only from the group of other potential future world champions but also from the older generation\u2026 except for Magnus Carlsen!<\/p>\n The videos that the esteemed reader can watch below show not only a maximally focused chess player but also the inner calm that radiates from Abdusattorov most of the time. Of course, today even very young but already experienced players can skilfully hide their emotions in critical moments of the game, but what can very few really do? Maintain calm within oneself<\/strong>!<\/p>\n I generally do not follow Fischer\u2019s chess, but the recently concluded tournament in Germany confirmed my suspicion. The pedantic Germans some time ago introduced a brilliant move<\/em> (true, copied<\/em> from former psychological studies in the USSR). During the game, players\u2019 pulse is measured! The results of this measurement are more than remarkable. While, for example, Firouzja\u2019s pulse soared above 200 beats per minute in critical moments, Carlsen\u2019s and Abdusattorov\u2019s never exceeded 100! Such a gift is directly connected with one of the four fundamental pillars that, for example, Botvinnik considered key to reaching the highest chess goals. What are these qualities and requirements? In a somewhat, let us say, modernised version I will state:<\/p>\n The last mentioned point is, however, just as important a prerequisite for success. For more than 10 years, we have been able to observe this clearly in Magnus Carlsen! The number of games he has won thanks to colossal mental endurance, relentless overwhelming psychological pressure on the opponent, and of course incredible physical fitness, could be counted in the thousands, if not significantly more!<\/p>\n Mikhail Moiseyevich primarily directed his assumption of four key qualities towards the third world champion Capablanca. He wanted to use a formula<\/em> to prove that Capa was by nature the most gifted chess player in history. While his school grades<\/em> in character, special preparation and physical fitness ranged from average to catastrophic, he logically had to overwhelmingly surpass others in talent.<\/p>\n Applying the same measure, for example, to Firouzja \u2013 readers of my contributions know that I consider him the most talented chess player of the current century \u2013 we get a similar result! Nodirbek Abdusattorov, however, would receive all very high marks<\/strong>, which in my opinion places him among the clear future candidates for the highest title!<\/p>\n This sentence of the then future 12th world champion Anatoly Karpov is deeply etched in my memory. He said it several times, but I first read it when the quarterfinals of the Candidates Matches for the World Championship were starting in 1974. As we know, Anatoly Yevgenyevich underestimated himself at that time; a year later he was crowned world champion!<\/p>\n Many specialists, including the 14th world champion Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik, expressed some disappointment after Abdusattorov's Prague triumph that we would not see him in the Candidates Tournament. I believe that if Nodirbek were to participate in the Candidates Tournament now, he could say the same sentence and... be just as wrong. Today, however, matches are no longer played, but a closed double round-robin tournament, so I would rather predict a different winner. I will try to predict different<\/em>: \u201eIn a possible next Candidates Tournament, not only will we see him, but he will become its winner!\u201c<\/p>\n In my opinion, Nodirbek's strength is evenly distributed and there are no outright weak spots in his play, unlike in the games of Firouzja, Gukesh, Erigaisi or Keymer. His enormous diligence is directed in all directions, as we will be able to assess in the examples below. Fourth place in the world rating list is of course not final, although a slight decline in position might be expected, among other things depending on the development of the Candidates Tournament. The current situation at the top of the world rating list looks like this:<\/p>\n So let us now go through some moments of the tournament in order, focusing on examples of our hero. But what kind of journey would it be if I did not also introduce the reader to topics they might not yet know much about...<\/p>\n Many readers probably know from their own experience that the most inquisitive and frequent question from laypeople to us \u2013 chess players \u2013 is: \u201eHow far ahead, how many moves ahead, does a chess player see?\u201c When journalists once asked Capablanca, they were shocked by his answer: \u201eIt varies, but sometimes I have to know what happens after thirty or forty moves.\u201c \u201eWhat nonsense,\u201c the reader will surely say. \u201eThat can never happen, even exceptionally!\u201c And yet Capa said this and... he was not bluffing! In my opinion, he meant not<\/strong> concrete calculation of variations<\/strong>, but future development<\/strong> situation. This can be predicted if the situation on the chessboard lacks (or is severely limited in) the Time component!<\/p>\n I will now present two diagrams to the reader. The first position comes from the work of the aforementioned 12th world champion, the second from the first round of a Prague tournament.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/skolasachu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Table-Praha-2024-2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nCold-bloodedness<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
\n
\u201eThis is not my cycle\u201c<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nA universally equipped chess player pursues his goal relentlessly<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nDelicate technique, thinking in patterns and the principle of two weaknesses<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n