Sharjah: Salem beats Fedoseev in wild encounter

Niemann, Aravindh and Salem co-leaders

Three players are sharing the lead with perfect scores after three rounds in the Sharjah Masters. Hans Niemann (14^th seed), Aravindh Chithambaram (19^th) and Saleh Salem (30^th) are tied for first place after starting the event with three wins in a row.

Niemann came from successfully hunting down Jakhongir Vakhidov’s king on Wednesday, and defeated Nikolas Theodorou, who had upset top seed Arjun Erigaisi in a rather one-sided encounter. Aravindh obtained a positional edge early on and went on to proficiently convert it into a win against Marcin Krzyzanowski, the lowest-rated player in the leading group after two rounds. Finally, Salem got the better of Vladimir Fedoseev with the black pieces after a tactical, double-edged struggle (see analysis of the game below).

Understanding Middlegame Strategies Vol.1 - 9

In this Video-Course we deal with different dynamic decisions involving pawns. The aim of this Course is to arm club/tournament players with fresh ideas which they can use in their own practice.

Standing a half point behind the leaders are five players: Amin Tabatabaei (5^th seed), Sam Shankland (18^th), Volodar Murzin (28^th), Abhimanyu Puranik (29^th) and Sangalp Gupta (66^th). The latter obtained back-to-back upset wins in rounds 2 and 3, against Shant Sargsyan and Nodirbek Yakubboev respectively.

There are no rest days in the 9-round event, which will come to an end next Wednesday. In round 4, Salem will play white against Niemann, while Tabatabaei will get the white pieces against Aravindh.

Hans Niemann | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Aravindh Chithambaram | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Fedoseev 0 - 1 Salem

Fedoseev, Vladimir2702

0–1

Salem, A.2629

7th Sharjah Masters 2024 16.05.2024[CC]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.h4 d6 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Qc2 c5 6.d5 a6 7.e4 b5 8.cxb5 Bg7 9.bxa6 0-0 10.h5 True to his nature, Fedoseev goes for it on the kingside in this Benko Gambit-like structure. Playable alternatives: 10.Nf3 Or 10.a4 Or 10.Bb5 10...Nxh5 11.g4 Nhf6 12.g5 Nh5 13.Be2 Bxa6 14.Bxh5 gxh5 15.f4 e6 16.Nge2 Qe8 17.dxe6 fxe6 18.Ng3

The stage is set for a double-edged struggle. Engines give Black an edge, but playing this over the board is all about nerves and calculation. Fedoseev had 57 minutes to Salem's 41 here. 18...Ne5 A brave choice by Salem, who wants to make the most of the fact that White has not castled yet. The move is not a mistake, though engines prefer two alternative continuations. 18...Bd4 19.Nxh5 Qg6 improving Black's pieces before going forward. 18...d5 19.Nxh5 Bd4 saving the all-important bishop, though after 20.e5 Black can give up the minor piece to open up lines on the kingside: Bxe5 21.fxe5 Rf1+ 22.Rxf1 Qxh5 Perhaps Salem analysed lines connected to these ideas, and decided to give up the knight on e5 at once - keeping the bishop alive. 19.fxe5 Bxe5 20.Qg2 Rb8 Again, a brave choice! 20...h4 21.Rxh4 Bxg3+ 22.Qxg3 Rf1+ 23.Kd2 forces the white king to escape, but at the cost of giving up the strong dark-squared bishop. 21.Nxh5 Qg6 22.Be3 d5 Focusing on opening lines, while threatening ...e4-e3. Strong is 22...Bd3 23.0-0-0 Bxc3 24.Rxd3 Rxb2 25.Bd2 Be5 Engines prefer White here, with his extra piece, though the white monarch is still very vulnerable. It is understandable that Salem went for the most complicated continuation, keeping more pieces on the board. 23.0-0-0 d4

24.Rdg1 White puts his hopes on creating counterplay with a potential Nh5-f6+. The position is still incredibly complicated. dxc3 This is a mistake by Salem - one that makes sense in practice, though (see the line after ...dxe3). Objectively, it was better to grab the bisop on e3. 24...dxe3 25.Nf6+ Rxf6 Only move. 26.gxf6 Qxg2 27.Rxg2+ Kf7 This does not look too pleasant for Black, however, despite having the bishop pair. Again, Salem's choice on move 24 makes sense from a pragmatic point of view. 25.b3 Bd3 26.Qh3 Already in a better position, Fedoseev errs with this over-ambitious idea. Better was to simplify into an endgame with Nh5-f6+. 26.Nf6+ Bxf6 27.gxf6 Qxg2 28.Rxg2+ Kf7 29.e5 The conversion is not trivial for White, but it is all but impossible to picture Black winning from this position. 26...Rxb3

Salem finds the refutation! Apparently, Fedoseev missed this move, or failed to evaluate it correctly. 27.axb3 Ra8 Threatening mate-in-1. 28.Kd1 The decisive mistake. Granted, the variation that would have kept the battle going was incredibly difficult to calculate. 28.Nf6+ Bxf6 29.Qxe6+ Qf7 30.gxf6+ Kh8 31.Qc8+ A saving recourse which is difficult to foresee! Rxc8 32.Rg7 Qxg7 33.fxg7+ Kg8 and Black is better still. 28...Qxh5+

Salem finds the killer blow! 29.Qxh5 Ra1+ 30.Bc1 Rxc1+ A remarkable finish! 31.Kxc1 Bf4+ 32.Kd1 c2+ 33.Ke1 c1Q+ and Black's queen and bishop pair give checkmate. 0–1

A practical repertoire for the positional player after 1.d4 Vol.1 – 1….d5

I give promising mainlines for white against all black’s main replies to 1.d4 d5 that are engine-proof, easy to learn and can be played almost instantly.

Vladimir Fedoseev during round 2 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Standings after round 3

...88 players

All games

Links

• Official site
• Full technical information on Chess-Results
• Arjun Erigaisi wins Sharjah Masters (2023)
• Nodirbek Abdusattorov wins Sharjah Masters (2022)
• M. Amin Tabatabaei wins Sharjah Masters (2021)