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5 min readNew DelhiJun 10, 2026 11:29 PM IST
Having played multiple team events like the Olympiad and the Asian Games together in a tightly knit squad, both players are fairly familiar with each other (Fide and Chennai Masters)
The fourth round of the UzChess Cup 2026 Masters event saw two Indians pitted against each other. Barring their nationality, there was nothing in particular that resembled how their tournaments had gone. On one side was Arjun Erigaisi, jointly leading the event with a couple of draws and a win sandwiched in between. On the other side was Vidit Gujrathi, languishing at the bottom after endured a terrible start to his campaign as he lost his opening two games before gaining his first half point, which came in a draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
Having played multiple team events like the Olympiad and the Asian Games together in a tightly knit squad, both players are fairly familiar with each other. They know their strengths, weaknesses, tricks and perhaps even each other’s mindset to some extent. So when they faced each other for the umpteenth time in Tashkent on Wednesday, one could expect a battle of attrition with both fighting for the full point.
It was indeed a battle on the board, not necessarily attritional but fighting nonetheless.
Vidit has an apparent weakness in managing his time on the clock. He often runs low on time, which leads to him dropping points in time scrambles. It is his will to fight that has saved him on numerous occasions. It was natural that Arjun would look to exploit this and find a way for himself in the game.
But it turned out to be a day when Vidit’s will to fight was at its highest.
A well-prepared Arjun with the white pieces entered a Giuoco Piano game and was rushing through his opening moves, while Vidit was spending far too much time on his clock to come up with accurate responses. The 19th move saw the first pawn exchange, which was only the second trade of the game after the exchange of a light-squared bishop on the 15th move. Vidit had already used over an hour from the 90 minutes and was down to 26 minutes and 40 seconds, whereas Arjun had gained 44 seconds by then through increments. The gap in time between the two players was one hour and four minutes.
Arjun continued to gain time instead of losing it until the 27th move, where he had added over three minutes to his starting 90 minute timer, while Vidit was struggling with his clock at 11 minutes.
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Things started to look even worse when Vidit cornered his rook to h4, which was deemed a mistake by chess.com. Not a grave mistake, but this was the first misstep from him. Arjun soon decided to exchange the second set of rooks, and the position was roughly equal once again. But Vidit was dealing with danger, with his clock under four minutes and seven more moves still to reach time control.
Vidit showed remarkable composure to come up with accurate responses move after move until he had exchanged all major pieces. Once both players decided to trade queens with equal pawns in a nearly symmetrical structure, it soon became evident that there was no juice left to squeeze from the position.
A draw by mutual agreement saw them end the game on the 46th move, taking home hard-earned half points.
Madaminov losing steam
What started as great optimism for Mukhiddin Madaminov is slowly turning into a short-lived high. He took down Russian giant Ian Nepomniachtchi in the opening round to surprise everyone. He then followed it up with a second straight win over Nikolas Theodorou to reassure his place among the elite.
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However, the last two rounds have seen him lose his steam after losing to Shamsiddin Vokhidov in the third round before dropping another point against another compatriot, Nodirbek Yakubboev.
Shamsiddin Vokhidov also won his round, taking down Theodorou. This was Vokhidov’s second straight win, which has thrust him into the joint lead, joining Arjun and Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
Abdusattorov survived a massive scare against Nepomniachtchi, but the two-time Candidates winner failed to close out the game, allowing the Uzbek No. 1 to come back and eventually draw the game.
The game between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Hans Niemann also ended in a draw.
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UzChess Cup 2026 – Masters Leaderboard after 4th round
1. Shamsiddin Vokhidov (UZB) – 2.5
2. Arjun Erigaisi (IND) – 2.5
3. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) – 2.5
4. Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) – 2
5. Hans Moke Niemann (USA) – 2
6. Mukhiddin Madaminov (UZB) – 2
7. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) – 2
8. Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) – 2
9. Nikolas Theodorou (GRE) – 1.5
10. Vidit Gujrathi (IND) – 1
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