Arjun Erigaisi wins Sharjah Masters

by André Schulz
5/26/2023 – The 6th Sharjah Masters was a top tournament with many young players. Before the final round, eight players shared first place. In the top encounters of the last round, only Arjun Erigaisi managed to win his game and emerged as the tournament winner. | Photos: Tournament page

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The Sharjah Masters in the United Arab Emirates was a top invitation tournament with nearly 80 participants in the main Masters event. Additionally, there was a Challengers tournament and a youth tournament. The Masters was a 9-round Swiss and all participants were Grandmasters. Over half of the players had Elo ratings above 2600, and eight players even had ratings above 2700 Elo.

Once again, India had the largest contingent of players with 16 participants. The Indian group included well-known players such as Gukesh, Vidit, Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa, and Nihal. However, the top seed in the tournament was not an Indian player but Parham Maghsoodloo from Iran. Gukesh was second seed.

The only woman in the field was reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun. From July 3rd, she will have to defend her title in the Women's World Championship match against Lei Tingjie. Some practice beforehand will certainly be useful.

In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.

The best non-Asian players in the field were the Russian Sanan Sjugirov, born in Elista, and the two US Grandmasters Hans Moke Niemann and Ray Robson. Sam Sevian, another strong US Grandmaster, also made his way to the Persian Gulf. Grigoriy Oparin, a native Russian, now also plays under the US flag. The highest-rated participants from Central or Western Europe were the Czech player Ngyuen and the Belgian player Daniel Dardha.

As expected, the top positions in this strong field were highly contested. Ju Wenjun was among the players with the best start, being part of a four-player leading group after three rounds. In round two the Chinese defeated the strong Indian Vidit. However, in the middle of the tournament, Ju suffered two losses and then was unable to win any more games. She finished the tournament with 4.5 points in the middle of the field, with an impressive Elo performance of 2680 (!).

After six rounds, Sevian and Oparin were part of a leading trio. However, as more players in the top group started to play draws, players from the chasing pack were able to catch up, and before the final round, no less than eight players shared the lead.

Samuel Sevian (with White) in his game against Grigoriy Oparin. Sanan Sjugirov is in the back.

In the top encounters of the final round, Arjun Erigaisi was the only one who won his game, and this win helped him to win the tournament half a point ahead of his rivals.

Erigaisi Arjun27011–0Yakubboev, Nodirbek2630
6th Sharjah Masters 2023
25.05.2023[Schulz,A]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 d5 An ambitious and popular line. More careful is 6...d6 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.Re1 Bg4 8...Re8?! 9.d4 9.h3 Bh5 10.b4 Be7 11.b5 Na5 12.Rxe5 Bxf3?! 12...Nf6 13.Nbd2 Bd6 14.Re1 Re8 15.Bb3 Qd7 16.Rxe8+ Rxe8 17.Bc2 Nd5 18.Ne4 Nxc3 19.Nxc3 Bxf3 20.Qd2 Qe6 21.Qe3 Qd7 22.Qd2 Qe6 23.Qe3 Qd7 24.Qd2 1/2-1/2 (24) Carlsen,M (2847)-Nakamura,H (2736) chess24.com INT 2021 After 12...Nxc4 13.dxc4 Nf6 14.Qxd8 Raxd8 15.Rxe7 Rd1+ 16.Re1 Bxf3 17.Rxd1 Bxd1 18.Bf4 White is a pawn up. 13.Qxf3 Nb6 14.Bb3 Bf6 14...Nxb3 15.axb3 Bf6 16.Re2 with a clear advantage for White who is a pawn up. 15.Rf5 a6 16.bxa6 Rxa6 17.Bc2 Re8 18.Be3 c6? This is a loss of tempo. 18...Nd7 19.Nd2 Bxc3 20.Rd1= 19.Nd2 White gives a pawn to develop his knight. After 19.d4?! Nac4= Black's knight on the rim is active again. 19...Bxc3 20.Rb1 20.Rf1 would be a better square for the rook should the f-file be opened. Later in the game White indeed moves his rook to f1. Rxe3 21.fxe3 Bxd2 22.Rxf7 and White wins, e.g. Ra8 23.Qg3 g6 24.Qe5 20...g6
21.Rxf7 21.Ne4!? gxf5 22.Nxc3 Nd5 23.Nxd5 Qxd5 24.Qg3+ Kh8 25.Bd2 with an attack though the game is not over yet. 21...Rxe3? Black accepts the invitation to get two minor pieces for a rook, but Black's pieces on the queenside are too far away from the action. 22.fxe3 Bxd2 23.Rf1 Ra8 24.Qf2 Bc3 25.d4 White cuts Black's bishop off from the defense and now has an overwhelming attack. Nd5 26.Bxg6 Nxe3 26...hxg6 27.Qg3+- 27.Rg7+ 27.Rg7+ Kxg7 28.Qf7+ Kh6 29.Qxh7+ Kg5 30.Qh5#
1–0

Seven players finished with six points, including the Americans Sevian, Niemann, and Oparin, as well as Gukesh, who was the second-highest-ranked Indian player and the youngest player in the leading group.

But chess was not the only game the players enjoyed.

Final standings

Rk. Name Pts.  Tb1 
1 Erigaisi, Arjun 6,5 0
2 Sevian, Samuel 6 0
3 Gukesh, D 6 0
4 Yu, Yangyi 6 0
5 Martirosyan, Haik M. 6 0
6 Niemann, Hans Moke 6 0
7 Tabatabaei, M. Amin 6 0
8 Oparin, Grigoriy 6 0
9 Nihal, Sarin 5,5 0
10 Nguyen, Thai Dai Van 5,5 0
11 Yakubboev, Nodirbek 5,5 0
12 Cheparinov, Ivan 5,5 0
13 Narayanan.S.L, 5,5 0
14 Sjugirov, Sanan 5,5 0
15 Praggnanandhaa, R 5,5 0
16 Esipenko, Andrey 5,5 0
17 Dardha, Daniel 5,5 0
18 Adhiban, B. 5,5 0
19 Aryan, Chopra 5 0
20 Sargsyan, Shant 5 0
21 Korobov, Anton 5 0
22 Mchedlishvili, Mikheil 5 0
23 Suleymanli, Aydin 5 0
24 Kadric, Denis 5 0
25 Vakhidov, Jakhongir 5 0
26 Kuybokarov, Temur 5 0
27 Maghsoodloo, Parham 5 0
28 Petrosyan, Manuel 5 0
29 Galperin, Platon 5 0
30 Yuffa, Daniil 5 0

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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