Qatar Masters: Narayanan beats Gukesh to grab the lead

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
10/15/2023 – The first sole leader of the Qatar Masters emerged after round 5, as Narayanan S.L., the thirteenth seed in Doha, obtained an upset win over Gukesh D. to become the only participant with 4½ points. Going into the one rest day of the event, twelve players stand a half point behind the leader, including Hikaru Nakamura, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Arjun Erigaisi. Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri stand on 3½/5 scores — the latter lost to 19-year-old IM Rudik Makarian in round 5. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

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Upsets on boards 3 and 6

For the first time in this edition of the Qatar Masters, a player has taken the sole lead at the top of the standings. Narayanan S.L., a 25-year-old Indian grandmaster from Kerala, defeated his compatriot Gukesh D. to go into the one rest day of the competition as the only player with a 4½/5 score.

Narayanan did not shy away from pushing his kingside pawns once Gukesh decided to exchange his light-squared bishop for a knight — i.e. doing what the position called for despite queens being still on the board.

While trying to untangle his position, Gukesh gave up a pawn in a messy middlegame. Giving up his remaining bishop was a mistake by the prodigious 17-year-old.

Narayanan vs. Gukesh

Gukesh used 3 out of the 4 remaining minutes he had on the clock before playing 36...Bf4, as he rejected the correct 36...Qg4, creating threats that would have led to a dynamic balance.

All minor pieces left the board before the time control, as White kept his extra pawn in the ensuing queen endgame.

Given the complicated nature of queen endgames, both players made inaccuracies in the final stage of the game (according to the engines), but it was Gukesh who made the last mistake with 52...Qh4+. A few moves later, Narayanan found the subtle king move that secured him the full point.

55.Kh3 prevents Black from giving more checks, and allows White to reply to play 56.Qe8 on the next move, winning. A third queen soon appeared on the board.

Gukesh continued fighting until move 58, but to no avail — Narayanan’s king was ready to escape the checks and get protection by the powerful pair of queens.

Dommaraju Gukesh

Gukesh is likely to recover lost ground in the last four rounds of the very demanding open tournament | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Meanwhile, on board 6, Anish Giri erred decisively on move 34 while facing 19-year-old Rudik Makarian. A Georgian-born Russian player, Makarian is playing under the FIDE flag in Qatar.

Makarian vs. Giri

Although White is the one calling the shots in this position, Giri would have kept the balance with natural moves like 34...Qe6 or 34...Rge8 here. His 34...Qa7, on the other hand, allowed White to get a clear advantage with 35.d5 — grabbing the pawn fails to Rc1-c7, while 35...c5, the best move in the position, gives up a pawn.

Makarian’s handling of his advantage was exemplary, as he got to play another good-looking (and winning) pawn push later on.

After 42.d6, Black cannot capture the bishop on f5 due to 43.Qxf5, and saving the black knight would lead to a quick mate.

Giri went for 42...Qa8, and saw his young opponent continuing to find precise manoeuvres until forcing Black’s resignation on move 50.

As pointed out in the post below, another youngster who is having a great run in Qatar is Vaishali Rameshbabu (Pragg’s sister), who beat Shamsiddin Vokhidov and has 4/5 points!

Carlsen’s study-like escape from round 4

Sharing second place a half point behind Narayanan are twelve players, including elite grandmasters Hikaru Nakamura, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Arjun Erigaisi. Magnus Carlsen, who was defeated by Alisher Suleymenov in round 2, does not belong to this group.

After the upset loss that prompted the organizers to put forth more security measures, Carlsen defeated Al Muthaiah and Bharath Subramaniyam in rounds 3 and 5, and was held to a draw by 17-year-old Pranesh M. in Saturday’s fourth round.

Moreover, only a study-like escape allowed Carlsen to save a half point against Pranesh — as demonstrated by our in-house expert, GM Karsten Müller, below!

Pranesh M2515½–½Carlsen, Magnus2839
Qatar Masters 2023
Doha14.10.2023[Mueller,Karsten]
1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.Nc3 c6 4.Be3 Nf6 5.f3 b5 6.g4 h5 7.g5 Nfd7 8.f4 Nb6 9.Nf3 b4 10.Ne2 d5 11.e5 Bg4 12.Bg2 e6 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Bxf3 N8d7 15.h4 Be7 16.0-0 Rc8 17.c3 Nc4 18.Bc1 bxc3 19.bxc3 Rb8 20.Kh1 Qa5 21.Qd3 Ba3 22.Be3 Nxe3 23.Qxe3 Nb6 24.Rab1 Kd7 25.f5 exf5 26.e6+ fxe6 27.Nf4 Rhe8 28.Be2 Bd6 29.Nxg6 Nc4 30.Bxc4 dxc4 31.Ne5+ Kc7 32.Nf7 Qd5+ 33.Kg1 f4 34.Qf2 Rxb1 35.Rxb1 Rf8 36.Qb2 c5 37.Nxd6 Kxd6 38.Qa3 Qf5 39.Qa6+ Kd5 40.Qb7+ Kd6 41.dxc5+ Qxc5+ 42.Kf1 Qd5
Magnus' king. Positions with queen and rook have middlegame and endgame elements. White can use both to win: 43.Qb4+? Now Black can escape. 43.Qa6+ wins, e.g. Kc7 43...Ke5 44.Rb5+- 43...Qc6 44.Rd1+ Kc7 45.Qxa7+ Kc8 46.Kf2+- 44.Qxa7+ Kd6 45.Qa6+ Kc7 46.Qb6+ Kd7 47.Qb7+
Without queens, White's open king is not a problem anymore. 47...Qxb7 47...Ke8 48.Qxd5 exd5 49.Rb5+- 48.Rxb7+ Kd6 49.a4 e5 50.g6 Kc6 51.g7 Rg8 52.Re7 Kd6 53.Rf7 Ke6 53...Kc5 54.Ke2 e4 55.Rf5+ Kb6 56.Rxf4 Rxg7 57.Rxe4+- 54.Rb7 e4 55.a5+-
43...Ke5 44.Re1+ Kf5 45.Qxf8+ Kg4 Black's king is safe and his counterplay draws. 46.Re2 f3 47.Qf6 fxe2+ 48.Kxe2 Qe4+ 49.Kf2 e5 50.g6 Qc2+ 51.Kg1 Qb1+! 51...Qd1+? 52.Qf1+- 52.Kg2 Qe4+ 53.Kf2
½–½

Interview with Magnus Carlsen after round 5 (by ChessBase India)


Standings after round 5

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Narayanan.S.L, 4,5 13
2 Nakamura, Hikaru 4 2
3 Abdusattorov, Nodirbek 4 5
4 Erigaisi, Arjun 4 6
5 Maghsoodloo, Parham 4 7
6 Sindarov, Javokhir 4 12
7 Yakubboev, Nodirbek 4 19
8 Karthikeyan, Murali 4 20
9 Paravyan, David 4 23
10 Jumabayev, Rinat 4 25
11 Aditya, Mittal 4 30
12 Makarian, Rudik 4 37
13 Vaishali, Rameshbabu 4 75
14 Carlsen, Magnus 3,5 1
15 Gukesh, D 3,5 4
16 Van Foreest, Jorden 3,5 8
17 Aryan, Chopra 3,5 15
18 Salem, A.R. Saleh 3,5 16
19 Puranik, Abhimanyu 3,5 18
20 Vakhidov, Jakhongir 3,5 22

...158 players


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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

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