A major controversy erupted during the ongoing Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025 in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Uzbekistan’s Grandmaster Nodirbek Yakubov and Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali were face to face in a match of the fourth round of this tournament. But before the start of this match, Nodirbek Yakubov refused to shake hands with R Vaishali. This incident caught everyone’s attention and the Uzbek chess player got embroiled in controversies. Seeing the controversy growing, this player has clarified his move.
Why did the Muslim player not shake hands with the Indian female player?
In the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, the match was to start between 23-year-old Yakubov and 23-year-old Vaishali. Before the match started, Vaishali extended her hand towards Yakubov to shake hands. But Yakubov did not respond and sat down for the match. After this incident, Uzbekistan’s Grandmaster Nodirbek Yakubov faced a lot of criticism on social media. In such a situation, Yakubov gave clarification by posting on social media and said that he did this for religious reasons.
Video for reference. pic.twitter.com/vv4wATXB6O
— Jesse February (@Jesse_Feb) January 26, 2025
Nodirbek Yakubov apologized by Social Media
Nodirbek Yakubov wrote on the social media platform X, ‘I want to tell about the situation that happened in the game with Vaishali. With all due respect to women and Indian chess players, I want to inform everyone that I do not touch other women for religious reasons. I respect Vaishali and her brother as the strongest chess players in India. If my behavior has hurt them, I apologize.’
Nodirbek Yakubov further wrote, ‘I do what I should do. I do not insist on others not shaking hands with people of the opposite sex or on women wearing hijab or burqa. What they do is their own matter.’ He further said that in the eighth round game against Romania’s Irina Bulmaga, he had already informed her to avoid a similar situation. But in the games with Divya Deshmukh and Vaishali, I could not tell them about it before the game and an awkward situation arose.