Abdusattorov says Spain stint with Carlsen could help at Total Chess pilot in Budapest
Nodirbek Abdusattorov said on November 12, 2026 in Budapest that he had worked with Magnus Carlsen in Spain in October and hopes the collaboration will benefit him at the Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot. Abdusattorov described the time in Spain as the beginning of a collaboration he hopes will continue.
For the 22-year-old Uzbek, the Spain camp provided a chance to exchange ideas with the World No. 1 and to play intensive training games. “I think it’s a very uncommon thing among top players to work with each other. But I was very happy to join the camp with Magnus. We played a lot of training games, and we shared ideas, our visions for chess,” Abdusattorov told The Hindu on the sidelines of the event. The arrangement followed a conversation with Magnus Carlsen’s long-time coach, Peter Heine Nielsen, after Abdusattorov expressed interest in training with the Norwegian and was subsequently invited during an e-sports event.
Abdusattorov said he still sees himself as an improving player and hopes the exchange will help his results at events that offer qualification routes. He cited the Total Chess pilot’s strong field, new format, and the opportunity to earn FIDE Circuit points towards Candidates qualification as attractive features. His victories this year include the Tata Steel Masters and the Prague Masters titles.
Reflecting on the previous Candidates cycle, Abdusattorov said he will alter his approach. “I don’t want to make the same mistake again. In the previous cycle, I tried really hard; I wanted it very badly. In the end, this kind of mindset didn’t bring me a lot of benefits, and it didn’t work for me,” he said. “I’ll come up with different ideas and different mindsets, and hopefully it will work out.”
Abdusattorov and his teammates helped Uzbekistan win September’s home Olympiad in Samarkand, adding to the nation’s 2022 triumph in Chennai. “We are very motivated. We have a clear goal to make Uzbekistan the number one country in chess. We are working on that goal,” he said, and he credited government and federation support for those achievements.
He said he plans to follow Javokhir Sindarov’s example by opening a chess academy and hopes the attention around Uzbekistan’s leading players will encourage parents to introduce children to the game. “But our job, I think, is to supply our people with our results, with our achievements. And I think that’s the most important part,” he said.
While Abdusattorov focuses on improving his chess and rating, his teammate Javokhir Sindarov is preparing to challenge D. Gukesh for the World Championship in Geneva.
