A certain Magnus Carlsen aside, Gen Z have emerged as a force in the chess world as three teenagers have won three major FIDE events in the last 12 months.

The latest is Uzbekistan's breakout star Javokhir Sindarov, who emerged the champion in the FIDE Chess World Cup in Goa on Wednesday. The 19-year-old defeated China's Wei Yi in tiebreakers to succeed Carlsen as the World Cup winner. Norwegian superstar Carlsen, who has been the undisputed World No 1 since 2011, did not participate in the current edition.

In July this year, India's 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh won the Women's Chess World Cup. Last December, D Gukesh, then 18, became the youngest World Chess (classical) champion by defeating Ding Liren of China in Singapore.

Sindarov was not among the favourites when the World Cup began in Goa on November 1 with 206 participants, including Gukesh and Divya.

The young Uzbek star lost just one game in the month-long event, which was to Jose Martinez of Mexico in the tiebreakers of their quarterfinal match. Sindarov bounced back instantly to draw the tie and beat Martinez in the second set of tiebreakers to advance.

In the final, Sindarov missed a slight end game advantage in his first tiebreaker with Yi before settling for a soft draw. But in the second game, he did not miss an edge in the end game, forcing a resignation out of Yi after 60 moves.

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