A total of 145 players — including 41 GMs, 54 IMs, 6 WGMs and 3 WIMs — made their way to the United Arab Emirates to participate in the 29th edition of the Abu Dhabi Masters.
Originally, it was announced that Dommaraju Gukesh and defending champion Arjun Erigaisi would be the top seeds in the strong open tournament. Most likely, the Indian duo registered to play with the proviso that they would not make it to the final stages at the FIDE World Cup in Baku. Gukesh reached the round-of-16, however, while Arjun was only eliminated in a close match against Praggnanandhaa in the quarterfinals.
Other World Cup participants did make it to the event after being knocked out in earlier stages — i.e. David Anton, Vladimir Fedoseev, Saleh Salem, Javokhir Sindarov, S.L. Narayanan and Jaime Santos, among others.
Russian representatives Vladislav Artemiev and Maxim Matlakov also registered to participate, and are the first and third seed in Abu Dhabu, respectively.
After three rounds, five players have managed to score a perfect 3 out of 3: Vladimir Fedoseev (Slovenia), Xu Xiangyu (China), Alisher Suleymenov (Kazakhstan), Rathanvel V S (India) and Abtin Atakhan (Iran). Fifteen players, including US rising star Hans Niemann, stand a half point behind.
Today, we had the pleasure of hosting GM Hikaru Nakamura, the world's second-ranked chess player, a five-time U.S. Champion, and a widely renowned figure in the streaming and content creation. pic.twitter.com/UQ9nRqY2Eu
— 29th ADchessFestival (@adchessfestival) August 17, 2023
Highlights by Shahid Ahmed
S L Narayanan sacrificed an exchange on e6 here: 12.Rxe6 fxe6 13.Qh5 g6 14.Bxg6 hxg6 15.Qxg6+ Kh8 and the exposed black king definitely gives White an advantage.
However, converting it into a full point was not easy. The computer recommends taking the e6-pawn with a check, which is quite difficult for a human to play. The game eventually ended in a draw by repetition, when Black could have pushed for a win.
S L Narayanan played an exciting game against one of the top trainers of India, GM FT Swayams Mishra | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
Sanket Chakravarty’s plan is simple: march the king down the board and use the rooks to deliver checkmate. And that is what he did in the game against Ahmad Ahmadzada.
Black needed to prevent the king’s advance with 33...h6 34.Kxh6 Re6+ 35.Kh5 Rf3, which would have been fine. Instead, 33...Re2 34.Rg5+ Kf8 35.h4 Ree3 36.g4 Rab3 37.Kh6 f6 38.Rgg7 Re4 39.Kxh7 led to an unstoppable checkmate.
Sanket Chakravarty vs. Ahmad Ahmadzada (1-0) | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | ||
| 1 | GM | Xu, Xiangyu | 2608 | 3 | 0 | |
| FM | Atakhan, Abtin | 2414 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 3 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | 2676 | 3 | 0 | |
| 4 | IM | Rathanvel, V S | 2491 | 3 | 0 | |
| 5 | GM | Suleymenov, Alisher | 2509 | 3 | 0 | |
| 6 | GM | Niemann, Hans Moke | 2660 | 2,5 | 0 | |
| GM | Murzin, Volodar | 2631 | 2,5 | 0 | ||
| 8 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | 2641 | 2,5 | 0 | |
| 9 | GM | Sindarov, Javokhir | 2659 | 2,5 | 0 | |
| GM | Lu, Shanglei | 2598 | 2,5 | 0 | ||
| 11 | IM | Abdisalimov, Abdimalik | 2438 | 2,5 | 0 | |
| 12 | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | 2586 | 2,5 | 0 | |
| 13 | GM | Dai, Changren | 2499 | 2,5 | 0 | |
| 14 | GM | Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son | 2641 | 2,5 | 0 | |
| GM | Li, Di | 2561 | 2,5 | 0 | ||
| GM | Sankalp, Gupta | 2522 | 2,5 | 0 | ||
| 17 | GM | Chanda, Sandipan | 2491 | 2,5 | 0 | |
| 18 | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. | 2645 | 2,5 | 0 | |
| 19 | GM | Santos Latasa, Jaime | 2656 | 2 | 0 | |
| 20 | IM | Madaminov, Mukhiddin | 2484 | 2 | 0 |
Find games from all rounds at Live.ChessBase.com
