Qatar Masters: Arjun enters final round as sole leader

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
10/20/2023 – Round 8 of the Qatar Masters saw Arjun Erigaisi beating David Paravyan to enter Friday’s final round as the sole leader, with six players standing a half point behind. Among these six chasers are Hikaru Nakamura and Nodirbek Abdusattorov — Arjun’s rival in round 9 — who both grabbed wins on Thursday. Former co-leaders Karthikeyan Murali, Narayanan S.L., Javokhir Sindarov and Nodirbek Yakubboev still have chances to win the event as well. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

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Six players at a half-point distance

Following an exciting seventh round which saw Karthikeyan Murali upsetting Magnus Carlsen, six players topped the standings with 5½ points each at the Qatar Masters.

In round 8, out of the three games featuring a clash of co-leaders, only one finished decisively, with sixth seed Arjun Erigaisi beating David Paravyan on board 3 (Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura play all their games on fixed boards, the first and the second).

Before Arjun collected the crucial win, though, Abhimanyu Puranik ended Anish Giri’s hopes of making a last-minute run for tournament victory. The Indian grandmaster thought for half an hour before giving up his queen to enter a forced drawing line.

Abhimanyu vs. Giri

12.Qxf7+ is the strongest move in the position, leading to a forced repetition — i.e. any other move grants an advantage for Black. After 12...Kxf7 13.Nxe6 Qa5 14.Nc7+ Black cannot escape the checks without making major concessions.

By this point Giri knew there was no way around it, as he silently agreed to a draw by allowing a perpetual check: 14...Kf8 15.Ne6+ 15.Kf7, etc.

Game analysis by Robert Ris

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Be3 Be7 8.Bb3 b5 9.Qf3 Qc7 9...0-0? 10.e5 9...Bb7? 10.Bxe6 fxe6 11.Nxe6 Qd7 12.Nxg7+ 10.g4 10.e5 Bb7 10...b4 11.Nce2 Nfd7 11...Bb7 12.Ng3 12.Nf4!? Bxe4 13.Qh3 Bxh1 14.g5 Nfd7 15.g6 12...d5 13.e5 Nfd7 14.Ngf5 exf5 15.e6 Ne5 16.exf7+ Nxf7 17.Ne6 Qe5 18.gxf5 Nd6 19.0-0-0 d4 20.Ba4+ Nd7 21.Qh5+ g6 22.Bxd4 gxh5 23.Bxe5 Bxh1 24.Bxh8 Bf3 25.Rg1 Nxf5 26.Nc7+ Kd8 27.Nxa8 Bxa8 28.Rg8+ Nf8 29.Bf6 Bd5 30.Rxf8+ Kc7 31.Bxe7 Nxe7 32.Bb3 Bc6 33.Rf7 Kd6 34.Rxh7 Bf3 35.Rh6+ Kc5 36.Rxa6 Nc6 37.Ra8 Ne5 38.Ra5+ Kd6 39.Rb5 h4 40.Rxb4 h3 41.Rh4 Bg2 42.Rh6+ Ke7 43.Re6+ Kf7 44.Rxe5+ Kf6 45.f4 Bf3 46.Kd2 Bg2 47.a4 1-0 (47) Adhiban,B (2660)-Mishra,A (2504) chess24.com INT 2021 11...Nbd7 12.g5 Ne5 13.Qg2 Nfd7 12.Qxf7+ 12.Bxe6? fxe6 12...Ne5!-+ 13.Nxe6 12...Kxf7 13.Nxe6 Qa5 14.Nc7+ Kf8 14...Kf6? 15.g5+ Kg6 16.Nf4+ Kxg5 17.Rg1+ Kh6 17...Kh4 18.f3 17...Kf6 18.Bd4+ Ne5 19.Nh5# 18.Nfd5+ Kh5 19.Ne6+- 14...Kg6? 15.Nf4+ Kh6? 15...Kf6 16.h4! Qxc7 17.Bf7 Ne5 18.Ne6+ g5 19.hxg5# 15.Ne6+ Kf7 15...Kg8 16.Nc7+ Kf8 15...Ke8 16.Nxg7+ Kd8 17.Ne6+ Ke8 18.Ng7+ 16.Nc7+ Kf8 17.Ne6+ Kf7 18.Nc7+ ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Puranik,A2618Giri,A2760½–½2023B90Qatar Masters Open 20238.6

Arjun, on his part, found a tactical sequence that left him in the driver’s seat in a position that looks completely balanced at first sight.

Arjun vs. Paravyan

Paravyan, playing black against one of the tournament favourites, mistakenly offered a trade of queens two moves ago. What he had missed in his calculations is that after the queen swap, White can play 17.Bxb5 — the idea is that after the forced 17...axb5 18.Nxb5 Ra6 19.Nxd6 Rxd6, White can gain an exchange with 20.Ba3

Arjun not only emerged with a rook and two pawns for two minor pieces — but what two pawns! The connected passers guaranteed him a long-standing advantage, which he proficiently converted into a 48-move victory.

Paravyan resigned in this position. Note that the passers on the a and b-files are still alive, and now have two connected colleagues in an identical configuration a few squares to the right.

Arjun Erigaisi, David Paravyan

Arjun Erigaisi facing David Paravyan | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Standing a half point behind Arjun are six players. Besides former co-leaders Karthikeyan, Narayanan S.L., Javokhir Sindarov and Nodirbek Yakubboev, the powerful duo of Hikaru Nakamura and Nodirbek Abdusattorov now belong to the chasing pack, as they both scored victories in Thursday’s eighth round.

Abdusattorov will play white against the leader in the final round, while Nakamura will have the black pieces against Narayanan.

In case of a tie for first place, a playoff will decide the winner of the event.

Completely out of contention for first place is perennial favourite Magnus Carlsen, who nonetheless obtained a nice win over experienced grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov, a United States Hall of Fame inductee.

GM Karsten Müller analysed Carlsen’s round-8 victory.

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1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 c5 3.e3 Nc6 4.c3 Nf6 5.Nd2 e6 6.Ngf3 cxd4 7.exd4 Nh5 8.Be3 Bd6 9.Bd3 Nf4 10.Bxf4 Bxf4 11.0-0 0-0 12.Re1 Bd7 13.Nb3 b6 14.Qe2 g6 15.a4 f6 16.Bb5 Qc7 17.a5 Rae8 18.g3 Bh6 19.axb6 axb6 20.c4 dxc4 21.Qxc4 Qd6 22.Ra6 Rb8 23.Nc5 Nxd4 24.Nxd4 Qxc5 25.Ra7 Rbd8 26.b4 Qxc4 27.Bxc4 Rfe8 28.b5 Bc8 29.Nc6 Rd6 30.Rc7 Bd7 31.Ra1 Bf8 32.Raa7 Bxc6 33.bxc6 Rd1+ 34.Kg2 Rc1 35.Ra4 b5 36.Bxb5 Rc5 37.Bc4 Bd6 Opposite-colored bishops favor the attacker. Pure opposite-colored bishop endings have a large drawish tendency, but with rooks they favor the attacker, like in the middlegame: 38.Rb7! Kh8?! This runs into a direct refutation. But Black is lost in any case. 38...Rxc6?! 39.Bb5+- After 38...h6!? one sample line runs 39.Bb3 Rxc6 40.Raa7 Rc3 41.Ba4 Rd8 42.Rg7+ Kh8 43.Rh7+ Kg8 44.Rag7+ Kf8 45.Rf7+ Kg8 46.Rhg7+ Kh8 47.Rxg6 Rc7 48.Rxh6+ Kg8 49.Rfxf6+- 39.Bxe6! Magnus' mighty point. Re7 39...Rxe6 40.Ra8+ Re8 41.Rxe8+ Bf8 42.Rxf8# 39...Rxc6 40.Bd7+- 40.Rxe7 Bxe7 41.Ra8+ Kg7 42.Ra7 Rxc6 42...Kf8 43.c7+- 43.Rxe7+ Kf8 44.Rf7+ 44.Rf7+ Ke8 45.Bd7+ Kxf7 46.Bxc6+- 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2839Kaidanov,G25541–02023D02Qatar Masters 20238.1


Standings after round 8

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Erigaisi, Arjun 6,5 0
2 Narayanan.S.L, 6 0
3 Sindarov, Javokhir 6 0
4 Nakamura, Hikaru 6 0
5 Karthikeyan, Murali 6 0
6 Yakubboev, Nodirbek 6 0
7 Abdusattorov, Nodirbek 6 0
8 Paravyan, David 5,5 0
9 Maghsoodloo, Parham 5,5 0
10 Giri, Anish 5,5 0
11 Shimanov, Aleksandr 5,5 0
12 Salem, A.R. Saleh 5,5 0
13 Carlsen, Magnus 5,5 0
14 Gukesh, D 5,5 0
Sethuraman, S.P. 5,5 0
16 Puranik, Abhimanyu 5,5 0
17 Oparin, Grigoriy 5,5 0
18 Kuybokarov, Temur 5,5 0
19 Gupta, Abhijeet 5,5 0
20 Zou, Chen 5 0

...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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