
With an Elo rating of 2682, Andrey Esipenko was seeded sixth at the Qatar Masters. However, this did not stop the young Russian grandmaster from winning the tournament convincingly. He began with a score of 3/3, followed by two draws and then a second streak of three consecutive victories. In the final round, a safe draw against Arjun Erigaisi secured him the outright tournament win.
In round 7, he achieved a nice victory in the Najdorf Sicilian against Saleh Salem.
Indian grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi was the top seed. However, his focus at the Qatar Masters was primarily on securing first place in the FIDE Circuit.
Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: Anna Shtourman/Qatar Masters
The winner of the 2024 FIDE Circuit qualifies for the 2026 Candidates Tournament. The circuit consists of a series of tournaments where players can earn circuit points. With just over two weeks remaining in the year, Fabiano Caruana holds a narrow lead over Arjun. However, the Indian youngster could still overtake Caruana by earning more points than him at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships at the end of the year.
Source: FIDE
Final standings
Rg. | Snr | Name | Typ | sex | Gr | FED | EloI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 6 | GM | Esipenko, Andrey | FID | 2682 | 7,5 | 0 | 2860 | 46,5 | 2 | ||||
2 | 1 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | IND | 2801 | 7 | 0 | 2787 | 48 | 3 | ||||
3 | 2 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | U20 | UZB | 2777 | 7 | 0 | 2695 | 40 | 2 | |||
4 | 13 | GM | Sargsyan, Shant | ARM | 2646 | 6,5 | 0 | 2758 | 48 | 3 | ||||
5 | 15 | GM | Karthikeyan, Murali | IND | 2637 | 6,5 | 0 | 2738 | 45,5 | 2 | ||||
6 | 18 | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | UAE | 2622 | 6,5 | 0 | 2690 | 46 | 2 | ||||
7 | 22 | GM | Idani, Pouya | IRI | 2603 | 6 | 0 | 2683 | 44 | 1 | ||||
8 | 31 | GM | Abdisalimov, Abdimalik | UZB | 2536 | 6 | 0 | 2680 | 44 | 1 | ||||
9 | 30 | GM | Zemlyanskii, Ivan | U14 | FID | 2543 | 6 | 0 | 2677 | 43,5 | 1 | |||
10 | 24 | GM | Pranesh, M | U18 | IND | 2582 | 6 | 0 | 2654 | 42 | 1 | |||
11 | 8 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | U20 | IND | 2676 | 6 | 0 | 2646 | 45,5 | 2 | |||
12 | 26 | GM | Lodici, Lorenzo | ITA | 2564 | 6 | 0 | 2643 | 40 | 3 | ||||
13 | 23 | GM | Daneshvar, Bardiya | U18 | IRI | 2600 | 6 | 0 | 2630 | 45,5 | 1 | |||
14 | 5 | GM | Tabatabaei, M. Amin | IRI | 2695 | 6 | 0 | 2620 | 43 | 1 | ||||
15 | 20 | GM | Paravyan, David | FID | 2620 | 6 | 0 | 2617 | 42 | 2 | ||||
16 | 14 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | U18 | IND | 2642 | 6 | 0 | 2608 | 42,5 | 3 | |||
17 | 4 | GM | Artemiev, Vladislav | FID | 2701 | 6 | 0 | 2604 | 42 | 0 | ||||
18 | 9 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | UZB | 2668 | 6 | 0 | 2603 | 43,5 | 1 | ||||
19 | 19 | GM | Pranav, V | U18 | IND | 2621 | 6 | 0 | 2566 | 39 | 2 | |||
20 | 41 | IM | Srihari, L R | U20 | IND | 2484 | 6 | 0 | 2566 | 37,5 | 3 | |||
21 | 28 | GM | Bharath, Subramaniyam H | U18 | IND | 2561 | 5,5 | 0 | 2601 | 42 | 2 |
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