Rustam Kasimdzhanov

World rank: No. 47 (October 2026)
Rating: 2665
Peak rating: 2715 (May 2015)
Title: Grandmaster (1997)
Federation: Uzbekistan
Born: December 5, 1979, Tashkent, Uzbekistan (age 46)
FIDE ID: 14200244

The Uzbek grandmaster who won the FIDE world title in 2004. Kasimdzhanov was also Asian champion in 1998.

He is best known today as a trainer. He was Viswanathan Anand’s second for his title defences in 2008, 2010 and 2012, trained Sergey Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana for their Candidates, and worked on Caruana’s team for the 2018 World Championship. He also coached Germany to the 2011 European Team title.

He has since worked with Arjun Erigaisi and with his countryman Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

Career highlights

FIDE World Champion 2004–2005
1998 Asian Champion
Second to Viswanathan Anand in three World Championship matches
Coach to Fabiano Caruana, Arjun Erigaisi and Nodirbek Abdusattorov

Titles

World Chess Championship: 2004

From the winners lists on our event pages.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov in The Chess Herald

FIDE profile · Wikipedia
Profile last reviewed September 29, 2026. Ratings update monthly from FIDE.