Nodirbek Abdusattorov has secured the eighth and final spot in the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship, to be held in Weissenhaus, Germany, from February 13–15, 2026.
Abdusattorov won the official Play-In qualifier hosted by Chess.com, defeating Pranav Venkatesh 2–0 in the final. The qualifier attracted more than 100 titled players from around the world and culminated in a four-player knockout stage on January 15.
With this victory, Abdusattorov joins the seven players already qualified for the championship:
Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Arjun Erigaisi, Javokhir Sindarov, and Hans Niemann.
Abdusattorov brings extensive experience in Freestyle Chess and Chess960, having previously reached the semifinals of the FIDE Fischer Random World Championship. In 2025, he competed in multiple events on the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour.
During the World Championship in Weissenhaus, an exhibition Freestyle Chess match between Hou Yifan and Bibisara Assaubayeva will take place on February 14 and 15.
The FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship marks the first World Championship jointly staged by FIDE and Freestyle Chess, concluding the 2025 Freestyle Chess season and crowning the first World Champion under this new framework.
Photo: Lennart Ootes