He gained his third and final norm required for the title of Grandmaster in the Azerbaijani Solidarity Day event in late December 2010,[1] in which he placed first.

[6] In late December 2016, he won the Zurich Christmas Open on tiebreak from Viktor Láznička, Dennis Wagner, Christian Bauer and Mateusz Bartel.

[8] In October 2019, Nijat earned 6.5 points (+2=9-0) in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament, finishing 15th out of 154 players.

In November that year, Abasov climbed to #93 in the world rankings and entered the FIDE Top 100 for the first time in his career.

In the semifinals of the world cup, he faced Carlsen, and in the third place playoff his opponent was Fabiano Caruana.