Lazavik wins KazChess Masters in Almaty as 14-year-old Mark Smirnov earns grandmaster norm
Denis Lazavik won the KazChess Masters unbeaten on 6½/9, half a point clear of Daniil Dubov. Kazakh 14-year-old Mark Smirnov shared third and earned a GM norm.
Belarusian grandmaster Denis Lazavik won the KazChess Masters in Almaty on Tuesday, finishing unbeaten on 6½/9, half a point ahead of Daniil Dubov. The final round also gave Kazakhstan a story of its own: 14-year-old International Master Mark Smirnov, the youngest and lowest-rated player in the 10-player field, tied for third and earned a grandmaster norm.
Lazavik overtakes Dubov late
The nine-round, all-play-all classical event ran from 26 October to 3 November at Coventry University Kazakhstan in Almaty, according to Kazakh outlet NewTimes.kz.
Dubov, the 2017 world rapid champion, led alone going into the last three rounds. He had a clearly better endgame against 16-year-old Kazakh IM Sauat Nurgaliyev in round seven but could only draw, ChessBase reported. That let Lazavik draw level on 5/7 after he beat Alua Nurman with the black pieces.
Lazavik moved ahead in round eight with a win over Nurgaliyev with white, while Dubov drew with Aram Hakobyan. In the final round, Lazavik drew a 58-move minor-piece endgame against Hakobyan. Dubov's 31-move draw with top seed Mahammad Muradli left him unable to catch up.
Lazavik, who turns 20 on 17 November, finished with four wins and five draws. He came into the event rated 2636 on the October FIDE list, a career high, and his earlier titles include the 2025 Abu Dhabi Masters.
Final standings (top four)
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- Denis Lazavik (Belarus) – 6½/9
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- Daniil Dubov – 6/9
- 3=. Shamsiddin Vokhidov (Uzbekistan) – 5½/9
- 3=. Mark Smirnov (Kazakhstan) – 5½/9
Vokhidov, a two-time Olympiad gold medallist with Uzbekistan, could have finished higher. He lost his final-round game to Nurgaliyev.
Smirnov's breakthrough
Smirnov was the story of the event for the home crowd. The 2024 under-12 world champion started the tournament rated 2451, the lowest in the field, and lost his first-round game to Dubov.
He recovered to score four wins, three draws and two losses. That included wins over Kazakh compatriots Edgar Mamedov in round seven and Denis Makhnev in round nine, both with the black pieces. ChessBase put his performance rating at 2666, enough for a GM norm, and German ChessBase calculated that it would lift his rating to about 2477.
Speaking to NewTimes.kz, Smirnov said he was very pleased with his performance.
A player needs three GM norms and a rating of at least 2500 to earn the grandmaster title. Reports differ on whether this was Smirnov's first or second norm: ChessBase called it his first, while NewTimes.kz said it was his second.
Prize money and what's next
NewTimes.kz reported a total prize fund of 25 million tenge. Lazavik took 7 million tenge for first place, Dubov 5 million and Vokhidov 3.5 million.
The win adds to a strong year for Lazavik, who also won the Karpov International tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk in April. Elite chess now turns to the Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot in Budapest from 10 November, followed by the world championship match between Gukesh Dommaraju and Javokhir Sindarov in Geneva, which starts on 24 November.
Key takeaways
- Denis Lazavik won the KazChess Masters unbeaten with 6½/9, half a point ahead of Daniil Dubov.
- Dubov led going into the final three rounds but drew all three games.
- 14-year-old Kazakh IM Mark Smirnov shared third on 5½/9 with a 2666 performance and earned a GM norm.
- The event was a 10-player round-robin in Almaty, from 26 October to 3 November.
FAQ
Who won the KazChess Masters 2026 in Almaty? Denis Lazavik of Belarus won with 6½ points from nine rounds, without losing a game. Daniil Dubov was second on 6 points.
Who is Mark Smirnov? He is a 14-year-old International Master from Kazakhstan and the 2024 under-12 world champion. He tied for third in Almaty with a performance rating of about 2666, earning a grandmaster norm.
What format was the KazChess Masters? It was a nine-round classical round-robin for 10 players. It was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, from 26 October to 3 November 2026.
Sources: ChessBase, ChessBase (German edition), NewTimes.kz, Wikipedia