GMNodirbek Yakubboev

Nodirbek Yakubboev was born in Tashkent in 2002. His older sister, Nilufar Yakubbaeva, also became a multiple Uzbek women's champion. He won his first Uzbek championship in 2016 and added titles in 2018 and 2020. He became an international master in 2017 and a grandmaster in 2019. Second place in the 2021 Zone 3.4 championship qualified him for the World Cup.

At the 2022 Chennai Olympiad, Yakubboev helped Uzbekistan win its first team gold. Playing board two, he also earned individual bronze with eight points from eleven games. He won the 2023 Qatar Masters after defeating compatriot Nodirbek Abdusattorov in a playoff. In 2024, he won the UzChess Cup Masters on tiebreak and the Abu Dhabi Masters outright. He reached the semifinals of the 2025 World Cup after eliminating opponents including Gabriel Sargissian and Alexander Donchenko. Defeats against Javokhir Sindarov and Andrey Esipenko left him fourth, just outside the three Candidates qualifying places.