A prestigious chess tournament with a total prize fund of 855 thousand US dollars has come to an end in Samarkand.

172 grandmasters with high world rankings from 39 countries took part in this tournament. At the solemn closing ceremony of the tournament, Alisher Sadullayev, a director of the Youth Affairs Agency of Uzbekistan, Arkady Dvorkovich, the president of the International Chess Federation, and Adiz Boboev, an acting governor of Samarkand region, spoke and congratulated all the winners and prize-winners, acknowledging that the tournament has become an important arena for the best chess players in the world, providing an opportunity to win significant prizes and qualify for the 2026 Candidates Tournament. After that, the winners and all prize-winners of the tournament were duly awarded. Among the top chess players in the world's TOP-100, four candidates - Anish Giri from the Netherlands and Matthias Bluebaum from Germany among the men, and Rameshbabu Vaishali from India and Kateryna Lagno, who competed under the FIDE banner, among the women, took top places and qualified for the ”Candidates Tournament” for the world chess crown.