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"I don't touch women": An Uzbek chess player declined to shake hands with his opponent from India.

An international scandal has erupted.
"Я не прикасаюсь к женщинам": узбекский шахматист отказался пожать руку своей сопернице из Индии.

The chess player from Uzbekistan, Nodirbek Yakubboev, found himself in an awkward situation at the Challengers tournament in the Netherlands, reports Caravan.kz.

Before a chess match, it is customary to shake hands. This gesture serves as a greeting and a sign of mutual respect. At the Dutch tournament, the competition was organized in a way that did not separate participants by gender, meaning that a man and a woman could face each other at the chessboard. This is how fate paired Nodirbek with Indian chess player Rameshbabu Vaishali, which prevented the Uzbek player from exchanging a handshake.

In the footage, it is clear that the girl extended her hand to Nodirbek, but he declined to shake it, making a characteristic gesture of refusal with his hand. This sparked discontent among the fans.

In his defense, Yakubboev stated that he does not wish to shake hands with women for religious reasons. However, the Uzbek chess player was caught in a contradiction, as he had previously shaken hands with female chess players, but for some reason, he refrained from doing so with Vaishali.

“What I did before (the handshake with Divya in 2023 and other similar instances — Ed. note), I consider inappropriate for myself. Regarding the situation that occurred before the game with Vaishali: with all due respect to women and Indian chess players, I want to inform that I do not touch women for religious reasons. I respect Vaishali and her brother as some of the strongest chess players in India. If I offended her with my behavior, I apologize,” said the Uzbek chess player.

Earlier, we reported on the disappearance of the leader of the Kazakhstan women's chess team, Zhansaya Abdumalik.