Javokhir Sindarov

Uzbek GM

“He played very well. He showed his openings, they’re quite strange. Everyone now understands how strong he is in the opening. I hope our work together helped him a lot.

I’ve always said he’s a very strong player. If I play a bullet match against someone around 2600, I believe I’ll win by a large margin. But against him, I sometimes even lose, because he’s very strong.

And it’s not because he’s my friend, he’s genuinely strong. He calculates well, and he showed his true strength in UzChess Cup. He played well, and some of his games were fantastic. I enjoyed watching them. I hope we see more of this kind of chess from him in future tournaments.

You know what’s interesting? Mukhiddin started playing chess when he was 10 years old. We have photos where I’m already a grandmaster and he’s my fan… I’m playing a simul against him. We do have pictures like that.

It’s crazy! This guy started playing chess at 10. In modern chess, people become grandmasters at 12. If you’re not a grandmaster by 15, you’re not a talented player. But somehow, he worked hard and showed his real talent.

He always surprises me. People don’t fully understand his strength yet, but we’ll see. I will always support him in his chess career.”