Grandmaster Nodirbek Yakubov of Uzbekistan refused to shake hands with Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali before a match at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament.
However, as the controversy grew, the Uzbekistan player apologized. He said, I did it for religious reasons, I didn't mean to insult him.
In fact, the entire controversy took place during the fourth round match of the ongoing tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. The match was to start between 23-year-old Yakubov and 23-year-old Vaishali. Vaishali extended his hand to Yakubov, but he refused to shake and sat down in his seat. On which day was this match played? This information has not been released.
The video of this incident surfaced on social media on Monday. Yakubov lost this match. He has three points after eight rounds in the Challengers category.
A South African player has shared this video.
Yakubov clarified in a social post Yakubov posted a lengthy response to 'X' after the video went viral. He said, 'He has full respect for Vaishali and her younger brother R Pragyananda, but he does not touch other women for religious reasons. I respect women and Indian chess players. I want to tell everyone, I don't touch other women for religious reasons.'
Yakubov posted 4 in a row on X.
Pragyanand played a draw with Gukesh In the 8th round of the tournament, Indian Grandmaster R Pragyanananda drew with World Champion D Gukesh. Pragyananand looked in good shape at one point, but Gukesh played cautiously. When there was no clear result, both players agreed to a draw after 33 moves.
After this draw, both Pragyanananda and Gukesh are leading by 5.5 points with Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusatorov. The Uzbekistan player shared the points with Vladimir Fedosiev of Slovenia. Among the other Indian players who participated in the competition, Grandmaster P Harikrishna played to a draw with Anish Giri of the Netherlands. Harikrishna has four points out of a possible eight.
Arjun Arigesi drew with Serbia's Alexi Sarna while Leon Luc Mendonca drew with Netherlands' Jordan van Forest. Arigasi is half a point behind Mendonca with two points.
Pragyananand making his move during his 8th round match against Gukesh.
Image Credit: Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).