WIJK AAN ZEE, (Netherlands) Jan 27: Grandmaster Nodirbek Yakubboev’s refusal to shake hands with Indian GM R Vaishali stirred up a controversy at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament before the Uzbek apologised, saying that he meant no disrespect and didn’t respond to the gesture because of “religious reasons”.
In a video shared by ChessBase India on social media, Vaishali can be seen extending her hand before the start of a fourth-round contest against Yakubboev, who sat down without responding to it, leaving the Indian visibly awkward.
Yakubboev, 23, who became a GM in 2019, lost the match and is currently on three points after eight rounds in the Challengers’ section.
Once the short video went viral, Yakubboev posted a lengthy response on ‘X’ saying, he had all the respect for Vaishali and her younger brother R. Praggnanandhaa but he “does not touch other women due to religious reasons.”
“I want to explain the situation that happened in the game with Vaishali. With all due respect to women and Indian chess players, I want to inform everyone that I do not touch other women for religious reasons,” wrote Yakubboev, who is a practising Muslim.
Vaishali did not offer her hand after beating the Uzbek player. The Indian is on four points after eight rounds with five more to go.
“I respect Vaishali and her brother as the strongest chess players in India. If I have offended her with my behavior, I apologise. I have some additional explanations: 1. Chess is not haram,” Yakubboev wrote.
“I do what I need to do. I do not insist others not to shake hands with the opposite gender or for women to wear hijab or burqa. It is their business what to do,” he explained.
Yakubboev said that in order to avoid such a situation in the eighth-round game against Romania’s Irina Bulmaga, he informed her in advance about his religious beliefs.
“Today (Sunday) I told Irina Bulmaga about it. She agreed to it. But when I came to the playing hall, the arbiters told me that I should at least do Namaste as a gesture. In the games with Divya and Vaishali I couldn’t tell them about it before the game and there was an awkward situation,” he added.
Another Uzbek player Nodirbek Abdusattorov is playing in the ‘Open’ section of the tournament.
PRAGG DRAWS WITH GUKESH
Continuing his fine form in the Tata Steel Masters, Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa played out a solid draw with world champion D Gukesh in the eighth round here.
Playing the white side of a Berlin defense, Praggnanandhaa had a slightly favourable position optically but Gukesh was always on the guard. It was in the early middle game that Gukesh sacrificed a pawn to get his counterplay rolling, and even though Praggnanandhaa tried to make use of it, the game was always closer to a draw.
As the Queens got traded, the players arrived at a rook-and-minor-piece endgame wherein Gukesh found the best resources and even got an outside passed pawn.
With Praggnanandhaa’s rook having the task of working against the pawn, the result of the game was never in doubt. The game was drawn after 33 moves.
With this draw, both Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh continue to share the lead on 5.5 points with Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, who defeated Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia. (PTI)