Sharjah Masters 06: Adhiban and Kravtsiv lead

by Albert Silver
3/29/2017 – There is a bit of a sense of 'finally' upon seeing only two players actually at the top of the hill now. Both Baskaran Adhiban and Martyn Kravtsiv scored important wins, taking them to 5.5/6. They are trailed very closely by a group of six at 5.0/6, and with three rounds to go, the final laps promise to be thrilling. Illustrated report with videos and GM analysis.

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All photos by Maria Emelianova

For some leaders, the sixth round represented a bad day at the office. This was the case for British GM Gawain Jones, who fell to Martyn Kravtsiv. As a result, he is now in 9th place, while Kravitsiv is tied for first.

For others, it was a simple draw... on the surface. Unsuspectingly, Laurent Fressinet agreed to a draw precisely when he had a shot that gave him excellent winning chances. See for yourself below.

Wang Hao vs Laurent Fressinet

Svane Rasmus was in good spirits, but fell to Baskaran Adhiban

The result was that Adhiban, the unexpected star of Tata Steel a couple of months ago, is now tied for first with 5.5/6

Praggnanandhaa vs Iturrizaga

 

It was another fascinating battle by 11-year-old Paggnanandhaa, and this time against one of South America's top grandmasters, who has been very active on the European circuit this year. Eduardo Iturrizaga analyzes the game with Daniel King.

25-year-old IM S. Nitin is from India and has 3.5/6

Das Debashis vs Radoslaw Wojtaszek

 

Top seed Radoslaw Wojtaszek joins Daniel King to show his quick win in round six

GM Harika Dronavalli is the top female performer with 4.5/6

Makhija Aashna has 2.0/6

Turkan Mamedyarova vs Saleh Salem

 

Top player from UAE, Salem Saleh, the 2015 Asian Champion, faced Mamedyarov's sister Turkan and goes over it, showing some of the dangers he had to avoid.

It might seem as if these two were just goofing off, but not so. They are both players and are both playing.

Taking a page out of Carlsen's playbook

Standings after six rounds

Rk
SNo
Ti.
Name
FED
Rtg
Pts
  TB 
rtg+/-
1 6 GM Adhiban B. IND 2682 5,5 19,0 11,8
2 21 GM Kravtsiv Martyn UKR 2641 5,5 17,0 12,6
3 5 GM Wang Hao CHN 2683 5,0 19,0 7,3
4 17 GM Amin Bassem EGY 2660 5,0 18,0 4,9
5 16 GM Fressinet Laurent FRA 2662 5,0 17,0 6,0
6 15 GM Mareco Sandro ARG 2664 5,0 17,0 2,1
7 31 GM Gledura Benjamin HUN 2588 5,0 15,5 6,5
8 23 GM Sethuraman S.P. IND 2629 5,0 15,0 3,5
9 10 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2676 4,5 20,0 3,1
10 2 GM Kryvoruchko Yuriy UKR 2708 4,5 18,5 -2,3
  11 GM Akopian Vladimir ARM 2675 4,5 18,5 -0,3
12 28 GM Adly Ahmed EGY 2593 4,5 18,0 5,4
13 4 GM Naiditsch Arkadij AZE 2702 4,5 18,0 -2,5
  47   Xu Yinglun CHN 2540 4,5 18,0 4,0
15 35 GM Idani Pouya IRI 2576 4,5 17,5 4,2
16 20 GM Oleksiyenko Mykhaylo UKR 2643 4,5 17,5 -3,0
17 1 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw POL 2745 4,5 17,5 -4,7
18 7 GM Areshchenko Alexander UKR 2682 4,5 17,0 -2,5
19 22 GM Bluebaum Matthias GER 2632 4,5 17,0 -2,8
20 12 GM Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo VEN 2673 4,5 17,0 -2,5
21 38 GM Svane Rasmus GER 2570 4,5 16,5 4,1
22 45 GM Pichot Alan ARG 2556 4,5 16,5 4,2
23 19 GM Kuzubov Yuriy UKR 2643 4,5 16,0 -4,3
24 36 GM Maghsoodloo Parham IRI 2576 4,5 15,5 1,6
25 55 IM Stany G.A. IND 2495 4,5 15,0 2,5
26 49 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V IND 2534 4,5 15,0 3,4
  64 IM Narayanan Srinath IND 2472 4,5 15,0 10,8
28 27 GM Bok Benjamin NED 2596 4,5 14,5 -3,0
29 48 GM Harika Dronavalli IND 2539 4,5 14,0 3,5
30 76 IM Viani Antonio Dcunha IND 2410 4,0 18,0 8,8

Click for complete standings

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Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications.