Today, January 21, the 5th-round matches in the Masters group of the Tata Steel Chess 2026 will take place in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov will play with black pieces against American chess player Hans Niemann, and Javokhir Sindarov will play with white pieces against 14-year-old Turkish grandmaster Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş.

In the 4th round, Abdusattorov beat Thai Dai Van Nguyen from the Czech Republic with white pieces, and Sindarov, playing black, defeated Matthias Bluebaum from Germany.

Before the 5th round, Nodirbek ranked second with 3 points, and Javokhir – third with 2.5 points, in additional indicators.

In the remaining rounds of the tournament, which will run until February 1, Abdusattorov will face reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Vincent Keymer, Anish Giri, Vladimir Fedoseev, Jorden van Foreest, Matthias Bluebaum, and Arjun Erigaisi, while Sindarov will play with Aravindh Chithambaram, Hans Niemann, Vincent Keymer, Jorden van Foreest, Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa and Thai Dai Van Nguyen.

The confrontation between Abdusattorov and Sindarov, who have risen to a kind of “giant grandmasters” status in the international chess world, will take place in the 9th round on January 27.

T.Ruziyev, UzA