GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi and Nodirbek Abdusattorov qualified for the 2026 Chess.com Open Playoffs through Play-In 1 on Monday. Nepomniachtchi won the tournament outright, while Abdusattorov finished second and secured his spot by defeating third-place GM Wesley So in a match.
As the top finishers, the players earned the right to select their opponents for the opening round of the Playoffs. Nepomniachtchi will play GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, and Abdusattorov will face GM Sam Sevian.
The second GM Play-In will be on Wednesday, March 18, starting at 12:00 p.m. ET / 18:00 CET / 10:30 p.m. IST.
Nepomniachtchi won the tournament outright, without the need for tiebreaks, while Abdusattorov and So finished in second and third. GM Hans Niemann, who also finished on seven points, just barely missed out on the match for the second qualifying spot.
See full standings.
You can see the bracket below, with our first two matches confirmed.
The Chess.com Open is a massive online open event, spanning more than a month from its first qualifier to the end of the Playoffs, that provides a direct path for three players into the 2026 Esports World Cup. There are three types of qualifiers: preliminaries, for untitled players; titled qualifiers, for titled players who aren’t GMs; and finally Play-Ins, for grandmasters as well as those who qualify through the other two types of qualifiers.
There are four Play-Ins, and each of them will funnel two players into the Playoffs. The Playoffs currently feature eight players who qualified through the Titled Tuesday Grand Prix 2025-2026, and ultimately eight more players will join them through the Play-Ins.
Each Play-In is a nine-round Swiss with the time control of 10+0. Qualification into the Playoffs comes with a minimum cash prize of $5,000—the prize for finishing last—and a chance at the $50,000 first-place prize, on top of the coveted EWC qualification. In case you need a refresher on all the events that qualify for the EWC, you can see that below.
Abdusattorov, who ultimately finished in second place, was the last player on a perfect score after round four. Going into that round, there were five players sharing the lead: IM Reza Mahdavi, So, GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, and Abdusattorov. So and Bortnyk made a high-accuracy draw, while Rakhmanov lost to Nepomniachtchi and Mahdavi lost to Abdusattorov.
Abdusattorov won that fourth round in just 30 moves, taking advantage of what we call LPDO (Loose Pieces Drop Off). The loose knight on g5 justified the sacrifice 28…Nxg4!, which was followed up by a pretty counter-fork.
Abdusattorov, who had the strongest start, made two draws in the subsequent rounds, allowing a number of players to catch up. GM Sina Movahed, Nepomniachtchi, GM Maxim Matlakov, Niemann, and GM Aram Hakobyan were all on 5/6 by this point, but Nepomniachtchi was the only player to emerge from that group with a win, against Matlakov, as the others drew.
Time was the most critical factor, as Matlakov had to defend a theoretically drawn endgame with under a minute against two minutes—without any increment. Nepomniachtchi converted, but there was a pretty stalemate trick for the draw on move 86 that Matlakov missed.
Nepomniachtchi won the tournament outright by drawing GM Hans Niemann in the penultimate round and then beating GM Nihal Sarin in the last, in fact with checkmate on the board.
With that win, Nepomniachtchi qualified directly for the Playoffs. For the rest of the eight players a half-point behind him, it was a mad dash to finish second or third. In the end, Abdusattorov and So finished in second and third, respectively.
In a quick interview, Nepomniachtchi mentioned that he was glad to win the event even with some internet issues—in one instance, he lost two minutes against Rakhmanov but still won the game. He also explained his choice of Duda as his next opponent, saying he would have liked to choose GM Vincent Keymer, but that would put him in the same bracket as GM Magnus Carlsen.
Meanwhile, the Uzbek number-one could count his lucky stars. He was dead-lost against Matlakov in the last round, but his opponent seemed to disconnect from the game and lost on time without making another move.
Maxim Matlakov was completely winning, but it seems an internet disconnection causes him to lose on time. Nodirbek Abdusattorov ends up winning and potentially qualifying, depending on tiebreaks!https://t.co/2Vq8hEhs4Q pic.twitter.com/Xxal8Fdw6s
— chess24 (@chess24com) March 16, 2026
He later explained, “I went for some desperate rook sacrifice, which is obviously not working, but at the end he disconnected. I mean, yeah, it was very lucky.” He went to contest a two-game match against So, who also finished on an undefeated seven points. Abdusattorov won the first game and drew the second.
Abdusattorov drew blood in the very first game. Opposite-color bishop endgames are supposed to be the most drawish in chess, but you never know at this fast time control. So didn’t capture White’s c-pawn in time, and Abdusattorov managed to squeeze out a critical victory.
Abdusattorov effectively neutralized the Center Game, played by So in game two. In fact, the Uzbek GM mentioned that he prepared the same line with the white pieces himself, so he was aware of how to play it for a must-draw game. So never got a chance as the players made 35 moves with 98 accuracy for the whole game.
There are six more players to qualify for the Chess.com Open Playoffs, and the next two will be decided on Wednesday. Who would you like to see qualify for the event? Let us know in the comments!
How To Rewatch
The Chess.com Open, taking place online from March 14 to April 26, is the world’s biggest open chess event. The tournament features open qualifiers, titled qualifiers, and Play-Ins that funnel into a 16-player double-elimination knockout. Up to $250,000 in prizes are available, on top of three direct qualification spots to the 2026 Esports World Cup.Â
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