3/25/2019 – The Sharjah Masters 2019 is one of the strongest open tournaments in the world. With a total prize fund of $60,000 and the first prize of $15,000, they have been able to attract some of the strongest GMs in the world. There are 35 GMs and 35 IM taking part in this tournament. After three rounds we have five leaders: 14-year-old Nihal Sarin, Alexander Fier, Ernesto Inarkiev, Le Quang Liem and Eduardo Iturrizaga. Niklesh Jain is at the venue and sends us a detailed report.
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The United Arab Emirates gained attention of the chess community all over the world with the Dubai Open. Now in its 21st edition the Dubai Open is still going strong. But there is another tournament just a few kilometres away which is held right before the Dubai Open — The Sharjah Masters. The Sharjah Masters began on 22nd of March 2019 and ends on 30th of March while the Dubai Open begins on the 1st of April 2019 with a break of one day in between. Thus instead of playing just one tournament (Dubai Open) for all these years, now players can plan a trip to UAE and get to play in two strong events. In fact the Sharjah Masters has a higher first prize ($15,000) than Dubai Open ($13,000).
This is the 3rd edition of the Sharjah Masters that began in 2017. In just two years the tournament has established itself as one of the best chess open events in the world. With a rating cut off of 1500 and the first prize of USD $ 15,000 the Sharjah Masters proves to be an ideal opportunity for ambitious lower rated players to fight against IMs and GMs and for the 2600+ GMs to win excellent prize money.
The Sharjah Chess Club where the tournament is being held | Photo: Niklesh Jain
What is more attractive? The neatly lined tables? The revolving chairs? or the artistic carpet? | Photo: Niklesh Jain
The inauguration of the event by the organizing committee and guests on board no.1. The important dignitaries in the photo are Shaik Saqr Alqassemi, head of Sharjah Sports Council and Shaik Saud Almualla, President of Sharjah Chess Club, and President of Arab Chess Federation
Wang Hao recently won the HD Bank Open in Vietnam. He also won the Hail rapid championships in Saudi Arabia. He is in great form and also the top seed at the Sharjah Masters 2019 | Photo: Niklesh Jain
178 players from 31 countries are participating at the Sharjah Masters 2019. There are 35 GMs and 35 IMs and 17 GMs above the rating of 2600. Wang Hao with a rating of 2718 is the top seed, followed by Vladimir Fedoseev (2715) and Le Quang Liem (2715). India has the biggest contingent at the event with 84 players. Even the host country UAE has just 23 participants.
After three rounds we have five leaders from five different countries: Nihal Sarin from India, Le Quang Liem from Vietnam, Ernesto Inarkiev from Russia, Eduardo Iturrizaga from Venezuela and Alexander Fier from Brazil.
14-year-old Nihal Sarin has been impressive and with 3.0/3 is already gaining six Elo points. Considering that he gained 11 Elo at Aeroflot, he is already at 2595 on the live rating list. | Photo: Niklesh Jain
Nihal's game from the third round against Mokliss El Adnani was very impressive.
Nihal Sarin vs El Adnani
Black has just played b6. How do you continue as White?
Nihal realized that with the black king in the centre he has to open up the position and did so with 17.f4! The important point being that 17...♜xf4 18.♖xf4 exf4 is met with 19.e5! and White gets a very dangerous attack.
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1.e4c52.Nf3Nc63.Bb5Nihal is known to try out different
openings all the time. Here he goes for the Rossolimo.g64.Bxc6dxc65.d3Bg76.h3Nf67.Nc3Nd78.Be3e59.Qc1!?This has been played only once
before. What is the idea of this move? Well, at some point White would like to
use the d2 square for his knight on f3 and it would be useful to have the
queen on c1.9.Qd2is the main move here with around 980 games played in
this position.Qe79...h610.0-0Qe711.Nh2Nf812.f4exf413.Bxf4Ne614.Bg310.Bh6f611.Bxg7Qxg712.Qe3is the key position in the opening.
Nihal didn't like that he had to move his queen twice and hence the opening
innovation.9...Qe79...h610.0-0Qe711.Nd211.Ne2Nf812.Re1Ne613.c3f511...Nf812.a4Ne613.Nc4b610.Bh6f611.Bxg7Qxg712.a4a513.Nd2!?Making use of the d2 square!Nf814.Nc4Qc714...Be6!?=15.Nd6+Kd8The king is not badly placed in the centre.15.Qh6!Ne616.0-0b616...Nf417.g3Nxh3+18.Kg2Ng519.f417.f4!Nihal is
extremely alert.Ba617...Nxf418.Rxf4exf419.e5!is the key idea.f519...fxe520.Re1+-20.d4!cxd421.Nd6+Kd822.Ne2White
knights are extremely menacing.18.f5!Nd418...Bxc419.fxe6Bxe620.Rxf6+-19.Ne319.fxg6was stronger.Bxc420.dxc40-0-021.Rxf6hxg622.Qg5Nxc223.Raf1+-White is clearly better with the black structure
having a lot of weaknesses.19...0-0-020.Rf2Rhg821.Raf1c422.dxc4Qe723.fxg6Rxg624.Qh4Rdg825.Rxf6Qc525...Bxc4!?26.Rf8+Kd727.Qxe7+Kxe728.Rxg8Bxg829.Nf5+White is better but this is better than what
happened in the game.26.Rxg6hxg627.Kh2Bxc428.Rf6Rd829.Nxc4Qxc430.Qg4+Kb831.Qxg6Rg832.Qh7Rd833.Qe7Qg834.Rf7A powerful game by
Nihal.1–0
The former World Blitz Champion Le Quang Liem has been quite clinical at this event in the first three rounds | Photo: Niklesh Jain
Le Quang Liem vs Venkatesh MR
How do you continue as White in this position?
It is clear that White has more space here. Hence, keeping more pieces on the board makes complete sense. Le Quang Liem played 21.♘d2! avoiding the exchange of knights.
How should White continue?
I really like what Le Quang Liem did next. He saw that his knight on d2 should be aiming for the d5 square and rerouted it with Nb1! The idea is to play ♘b1-c3-d5. White is slightly better and the Vietnamese GM converted it into a full point.
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1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bb5a64.Ba4Nf65.d3d66.c3g67.0-0Bg78.Re10-09.Nbd2Bd710.Nf1Ne711.d4Bxa412.Qxa4Qd713.Qc2Nc614.Ng3h615.h3Rae816.Be3Kh717.Rad1Qc818.c4Nd719.Re2b620.dxe5Ndxe521.Nd2!
When you are ahead on space, you shouldn't be exchanging pieces.Nd722.Nb1!This is a great move. The knight will come to c3 and from there make its
way to the d5 square.Nc523.Nc3h524.Nd5h4The pawn does kick the
knight away, but later will become a weakness and will be picked up.25.Nf1Ne626.Red2Nc527.f3a528.Bg5!and there you go the h4 pawn is lost.Nb429.Nxb4axb430.Bxh4f531.exf5Qxf532.Bf2Qxc233.Rxc2Na434.Rdd2Rf435.Ne3Rd436.Nd1Rxd237.Rxd2Ra838.Re2Kg839.b3Nb240.Nxb2Rxa241.Re8+Kf742.Rc8Ra1+43.Kh2Bxb244.Rxc7+Ke645.h4Rb146.Rc6Be5+47.Bg3Rxb348.Rxb6Bxg3+49.Kxg3Ke550.Kg4Rb151.Kg5b352.Kxg6b253.h5Kd454.h6Kc355.h7Rh156.f4Kc257.f51–0
The purpose of this DVD is to teach players how to conduct the attack on the black king using different methods. Although the Italian Game and the Ruy Lopez are mostly positional openings, it is very often possible to make use of attacking methods of play
Le Quang Liem speaks to ChessBase India's Niklesh Jain after his victory over Venkatesh
Ernesto Inarkiev is on 3.0/3 and is one of the leaders | Photo: Niklesh Jain
The Gruenfeld Defense is an active and dynamic reply to 1.d4 which can lead to complex and extremely sharp positions. So it’s no wonder that also Alexei Shirov included this opening into his repertoire. At the candidates’ final against Vladimir Kramnik in Cazorla in 1998, he exclusively – and successfully – trusted the Gruenfeld Indian with Black; the victory over Kramnik gave him the right to play a WCh match versus Kasparov.
Sambit Panda vs Ernesto Inarkiev
Ne3!?!? have you seen this move before?
This line is considered to be an interesting one for Black. And believe it or not, it has been played in 53 games before! Inarkiev was aware of the same and this speaks volumes about his level of preparation.
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1.d4Nf62.c4g63.Nc3d54.cxd5Nxd55.Na4This move
has a very specific idea. White wants to push away the knight on d5 with e4,
avoiding the capture of the knight on c3. Also the knight on a4 keeps an eye
on the c5 square.e55...Bg7is the main move, but Inarkiev goes for
something active.6.dxe5Bb4+7.Bd2Ne3!?This move has already been
played in 53 games with Aronian also haveing tried it with black.8.fxe3Bxd2+9.Qxd2Qh4+10.g3Qxa4Computers are very happy with White's position
and give an advantage of nearly a pawn. But this is not true. Practically
White's position is not so easy to play with these tripled pawns.11.Qd411.Bg20-012.Nf3Nc613.0-0Definitely leads to a position which is
slightly better for White.11...Qa5+12.b4Qa413.e6f613...0-0!?14.Bg214.Qxf6Qxb4+-+14...Nc615.Bxc6+Qxc616.Nf3Qxe6Black has been
able to restore the material balance and slowly took over.17.0-00-018.Rfd1Re819.Kf2Bd720.Qd5Re721.Rac1c622.Qxe6+Bxe623.a3Kf724.Nd4Bd525.a4a526.b5cxb527.Nxb5Bc628.Rc5Re529.Rxe5fxe530.Nd6+Ke631.Nc4Bxa432.Rd6+Ke733.Rd5b534.Nxe5b435.Nc4b336.Ke1Rc837.Nb2Rc1+38.Kf2Bd739.Re5+Kd640.Rxa5Rc241.Nd3b242.Ra6+Kc743.Nxb2Rxb244.Rf6Kd845.Rf7h546.Rf6Bf547.Kf3Ke748.Ra6Rb40–1
Iturrizaga from Venezuela is the fourth leader at the Sharjah Masters 2019. In the second round he played an excellent game to beat G. Akash.
Iturrizaga vs G.Akash
Just have a look how Iturrizaga managed to use all his resources to squeeze maximum out of this endgame
Alexander Fier from Brazil is also on 3.0/3. We selected his nice win over Ratnakaran for this article. The reason? Ratnakaran is an aggressive player and likes to find resources even in lost positions. But once Fier got an advantage, he never really let it go. Step by step he increased it and finished off his opponent with absolute ease.
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1.d4Nf62.c4c53.Nf3g64.Nc3Bg75.g30-06.Bg2cxd47.Nxd4Nc68.0-0Ng49.e3f5!?
Typical Rathnakaran. He immediately tries to play something unsual and
aggressive.10.b3a611.Qd2e512.Nde2h513.Ba3Re814.Bd6Kh715.Nd5Rh816.c5b517.cxb6h418.Rad1hxg319.fxg3Bh620.h3Nxe321.Nxe3Qxb622.Rf3a523.Qc3Ba624.Bc5Qb725.Nxf5!gxf526.Rxf5Rhg827.Be4Kh828.Rd6Finishing off the game in style. There have been many games in
Rathnakaran's chess career where he has worse, but his opponents have gone
wrong and given him the full point. But Fier made absolutely no mistake and
managed to take home the full point.1–0
Sri Sai Baswanth vs Maxim Matlakov — with a rating difference of 674 Elo points it was nearly the biggest upset of the entire event, until something unusual happened
Round 2 highlights
Round three highlights
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1.e4g62.d4Bg73.c4d64.Nc3Nc65.Nge2e56.Be3exd47.Nxd4Nge78.h4h59.Qd2A42: Modern Defence: Averbakh VariationBe69...0-010.0-0-0f511.c5f412.Nxc6fxe313.Nxe7+Qxe714.Qxe3dxc515.Bc4+Kh716.f4Bd417.Rxd4cxd418.Qxd41-0 (33) Dubov,D (2666)-Krylov,M (2476) Sochi 201710.Nxe6fxe611.0-0-0White is better.Qd7NPredecessor:11...b612.Kb1Qd713.f40-0-014.g3Ng815.c5bxc516.Ba6+Kb817.Bxc51-0 (35) Tereick,B (2090)-Seyb,A (1973) Willingen 200412.c50-0-013.cxd6Qxd614.Qxd6Rxd615.Bc4Rxd1+16.Rxd1Don't do16.Nxd1?!e516...e5
17.Be6+!Kb818.Rd7Bf619.Nd5Nxd520.exd5Not20.Rxd5Bxh421.Rd7Nd8=Much less strong is20.Bxd5?!Ne720...Nd421.g3Nxe622.dxe6+- Endgame KRB-KRBRe823.Rf7Bd8
24.Bg5!Bxg5+25.hxg5KR-KRKc826.Rf6Rg827.e7Re828.Rxg6Rxe729.Kd2Rf730.Ke3e4?30...Kd731.Rh6Ke731.Rh6White is clearly winning.Rf3+32.Kxe4Rxf233.g6Accuracy: White = 100%, Black = 39%.1–0
Niklesh Kumar JainFIDE Instructor Niklesh Kumar Jain Jain is an international chess player who has participated in tournaments in almost in 20 different countries, winning the international tournament in Sri Lanka in 2010. He also worked for a television network as an anchor and news writer for two years and reported in Hindi during World Chess Championship 2013 and 2014.
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