Vaishali Rameshbabu fell victim to controversy at the ongoing Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. During Round 4 in the Challengers’ Section, she was set to face Uzbek Nodirbek Yakubboev.
The Uzbek grandmaster arrived late, and as Vaishali went forward for the customary handshake, he simply declined her and by making a hand gesture. According to many fans and current chess players, the gesture was disrespectful and they also questioned the reason behind the reason to snub Vaishali, who is also a grandmaster.
Later on, Nodirbek took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to issue an apology to Vaishali, but also clarified that his religion (Islam) doesn’t allow him to shake hands with women. Then fans pointed out that he shook Divya Deshmukh’s hand in 2023, to which he responded that it was his fault. But in truth, he was also paired with Divya at the ongoing tournament, and fist-bumped her instead of the customary handshake. So Nodirberk’s religion doesn’t really add up in this controversy.
Elisabeth Pahtz defends Vaishali Rameshbabu
Nodirbek’s behaviour wasn’t well-received by Germany’s only female grandmaster Elisabeth Pahtz. Taking to X, she wrote, “I blame him for his “hand gesture of refusal” which made the whole thing so much worse.”
In another tweet, she stated, “Well actually I know it also exists among Jewish people. If you are married and Jewish you are only allowed to touch your wife, which in some way is a truly compliment and gloriness to the wife. There is an American Jewish GM who apologized before hand for refusing the handshake.”
Explaining that Nodirbek could have come up with another gesture instead of a handshake. She stated, “Well yes, then just put a sign like this or a nodding of your head and that’s it. His gesture was a gesture of “refusal” and “disrespect”. I am sure it must have been very irritating for Vaishali, mentioning here – she is a young and pure honest soul.”
“She won that game! I rather meant that her character wouldnt allow public dispute, attacks or conflicts. She is too kind for it and not a social media person, but indeed she has iron nerves!”
She added, “Maybe you should read a bit more carefully. The main issue here is not that he refused the handshake but the disrespectful hand signing that he declines it!”
Despite Nodirbek’s disrespectful behaviour, Vaishali had the last laugh. She was better than her opponent tactically and calculated her moves better than him, and that was enough of an answer to his behaviour. After his defeat, he once again ignored his opponent and left.
