Sharjah Masters 01: Upsets and Walkovers

Sharjah Masters 01: Upsets and Walkovers

Photos by Maria Emelianova

The Sharjah Masters 2017 began with 230 players. But the picture after the round began was strange—40 of the 230 players never arrived to play! This included six Indians and 15 grandmasters.

To make matters very interesting, the officials decided to enforce the accelerated pairings system in the first three rounds. This saw 2450 players take on the 2700s in the very first round. In the top 15 boards, there were 8 draws, 4 walkovers.

The time control is 90 minutes with 30 seconds increment for the full game. This promised a lot of fighting chess.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2745) is the top seed but already in the first round....

...he was held to a draw by Ukraine's Valeriy Neverov (2477).

GM Eltaj Safarli was held to a draw by IM Shyaamnikhil P.

GM Gawain Jones managed to defeat WGM Zhansaya Abdumalik.

IM Praggnanandhaa R. landed in a soup with the black pieces against Arkadij Naiditsch (2702).

But in typical Praggu style, he fought back and held a draw, despite the ticking clock almost crushing him. Nerves of steel, indeed. But this is not surprising—his fighting spirit is what makes him so strong and special.

Playing his last few moves with seconds on the clock, Praggnanandhaa held Naiditsch to a draw.

And it is this fighting spirit that differentiates the best from the rest. IM Nihal Sarin was playing with black against German GM Matthias Bluebaum (2632).

Nihal is becoming well-known for his unique ability to switch styles at will. Here, instead of playing a solid positional game with black, he chose to play a sharp Vienna leading to a double-edged middlegame. His plan was clear--the one who would go wrong first would most likely lose. A street fight ensued...

With both Bluebaum and Nihal under time-pressure, it was the German who went wrong first and the 12-year-old finished the game swiftly.

Daniel King analyzes the game with Nihal.

Joining Praggnanandhaa and Nihal at the 'prodigy party' was Uzbek IM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, also a 12-year-old wunderkind, who held Vladimir Akopian (2675).

GM B. Adhiban destroyed IM Swayams Mishra's king in a neat attack.

Daniel King analyzes with Adhiban

White to play

But probably the most beautiful game of the day was IM Viani Antonio Dcunha's crushing victory against Argentine GM Sandro Mareco (2664). A beautiful little gem with a sparkling sacrifice.

Daniel King analyzes with Viani.

Salem AR Saleh started with a lot of positivity. He had a great position, against IM Vignesh NR...

Until 41.Re7? when he loses to a one-mover that Vignesh found easily.

Daniel King looks at some other positions...

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Round 02: