3rd UzChess Cup Masters 2026: Vokhidov scores a hat-trick, emerges sole leader
Shamsiddin Vokhidov scored a hat-trick by defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi in Round 5 to become the sole leader of 3rd UzChess Cup Masters 2026.
Vidit escapes with a draw against Hans
Shamsiddin Vokhidov scored his third win in-a-row to become the sole leader 3.5/5. Two-third of the leaders, Arjun Erigaisi and Nodirbek Abdusattorov drew against each other. Mukhiddin Madaminov bounced back with a victory over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov after the former lost two games consecutively. Vidit Gujrathi escaped with a draw against Hans Niemann.
Challengers: GM Aditya Mittal scored his second win of the event, this time against IM Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov. He moved to 3/5.
Futures: GM Sethuraman S P also registered his second vicotry. It was over IM Bakhrom Bakhrillaev. Sethuraman is now at 3/5.
Vokhidov – Nepomniachtchi: 1-0
Shamsiddin Vokhidov (2637) opted for the Moscow variation in the Sicilian Defence against Ian Nepomniachtchi (2733). Their sole Classical rated game occurred at the very same event last year. Vokhidov won that game with the white pieces. This time also he replicated the same result.
In an already difficult pawn down rook and same color bishop endgame, Black went wrong 37…Be7?? 38.Rd7+- Bh4+ 39.g3 Bxg3+ 40.Kxg3 Rxe3+ 41.Kg4 Rf3 42.Rxa7 Kf8 43.a5 Rf6 44.axb6 Rxb6 45.c4 and it’s over. With this win, Vokhidov scored a hat-trick of wins and became sole leader.
Mamedyarov – Madaminov: 0-1
This is the first time the World Rapid 2013 champion, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE, 2717) and Mukhiddin Madaminov (UZB, 2586) were facing each other in a Classical rated game. In the major piece and opposite color bishop endgame, Mamedyarov trapped his own queen.
White has quite a few safe squares for the queen – a4, b4, b6 and h4. Instead, he blundered 33.Qf4?? Rc4-+ and there is no good way for White to save the queen without losing material.
Vidit – Hans: 0.5-0.5
Vidit Gujrathi (2708) found nice resource from a losing position against Hans Niemann (USA, 2742) to salvage a draw. In their previous two Classical encounters, Vidit won one and the other game ended in a draw.
47.d5! is a nice resource to save the game. Black cannot take the rook as 47…Qxe1 leads to perpetual check 48.Qc8+. The game continued 47…Re3 48.dxc6 Re7 49.Qf4 Qxf4 50.gxf4 b4 51.f5 b3 52.f6 Re5 53.Bf3 b2 54.c7 Re8 55.Bxe2 Bxe2 56.f7 Rf8 57.c8Q Rxc8 and it’s a draw. A great escape by Vidit.
Time Control
40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes for the rest of the game with 30 seconds increment starting frtom move one in Masters. For Challengers, Futures and Open, the time control is 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment.
Prizes
The total prize fund combining Masters, Challengers and Futures is US$ 215000. Masters has $150000, Challengers $50000 and Futures $15000.
Schedule
Every day from 7th to 15th June 2026, the round starts at 3 p.m. local time, 3:30 p.m. IST. Only the last round will start at 11 a.m. local time, 11:30 a.m. IST.
Replay Round 5 Masters games
Replay Round 5 Challengers games
Replay Round 5 Futures games
Masters Round 5 results
Standings after Round 5
Round 6 pairings
Challengers Round 5 results
Futures Round 5 results
Links
UzChess Cup: Official site, instagram and twitter
Uzbekistan Chess Federation: Telegram, Youtube, facebook and instagram
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