Niemann, Aravindh and Salem co-leaders
Three players are sharing the lead with perfect scores after three rounds in the Sharjah Masters. Hans Niemann (14th seed), Aravindh Chithambaram (19th) and Saleh Salem (30th) 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).
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 (5th seed), Sam Shankland (18th), Volodar Murzin (28th), Abhimanyu Puranik (29th) and Sangalp Gupta (66th). 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
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 10.Nf3 10.a4 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 18...Ne5 18...Bd4 19.Nxh5 Qg6 18...d5 19.Nxh5 Bd4 20.e5 Bxe5 21.fxe5 Rf1+ 22.Rxf1 Qxh5 19.fxe5 Bxe5 20.Qg2 Rb8 20...h4 21.Rxh4 Bxg3+ 22.Qxg3 Rf1+ 23.Kd2 21.Nxh5 Qg6 22.Be3 d5 22...Bd3 23.0-0-0 Bxc3 24.Rxd3 Rxb2 25.Bd2 Be5 23.0-0-0 d4 24.Rdg1 dxc3 24...dxe3 25.Nf6+ Rxf6 26.gxf6 Qxg2 27.Rxg2+ Kf7 25.b3 Bd3 26.Qh3 26.Nf6+ Bxf6 27.gxf6 Qxg2 28.Rxg2+ Kf7 29.e5 26...Rxb3 27.axb3 Ra8 28.Kd1 28.Nf6+ Bxf6 29.Qxe6+ Qf7 30.gxf6+ Kh8 31.Qc8+ Rxc8 32.Rg7 Qxg7 33.fxg7+ Kg8 28...Qxh5+ 29.Qxh5 Ra1+ 30.Bc1 Rxc1+ 0–1
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
1 |
30 |
|
GM |
Salem, A.R. Saleh |
|
2629 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
14 |
|
GM |
Niemann, Hans Moke |
|
2688 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
19 |
|
GM |
Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. |
|
2670 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
28 |
|
GM |
Murzin, Volodar |
|
2631 |
2,5 |
0 |
4,5 |
2,5 |
5 |
5 |
|
GM |
Tabatabaei, M. Amin |
|
2707 |
2,5 |
0 |
4 |
2,5 |
6 |
66 |
|
GM |
Sankalp, Gupta |
|
2531 |
2,5 |
0 |
3,5 |
2 |
7 |
29 |
|
GM |
Puranik, Abhimanyu |
|
2629 |
2,5 |
0 |
3 |
1,5 |
8 |
18 |
|
GM |
Shankland, Sam |
|
2671 |
2,5 |
0 |
2,5 |
1,5 |
9 |
37 |
|
GM |
Theodorou, Nikolas |
|
2616 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
3 |
10 |
56 |
|
GM |
Muradli, Mahammad |
|
2560 |
2 |
0 |
4,5 |
3 |
11 |
69 |
|
GM |
Krzyzanowski, Marcin |
|
2526 |
2 |
0 |
4,5 |
3 |
12 |
22 |
|
GM |
Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel |
|
2650 |
2 |
0 |
4,5 |
2,5 |
13 |
9 |
|
GM |
Fedoseev, Vladimir |
|
2701 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
14 |
88 |
|
IM |
Royal, Shreyas |
|
2463 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
15 |
43 |
|
GM |
Vakhidov, Jakhongir |
|
2599 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
16 |
84 |
|
GM |
Iniyan, Pa |
|
2493 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
2,5 |
17 |
50 |
|
GM |
Daneshvar, Bardiya |
|
2581 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
18 |
3 |
|
GM |
Yu, Yangyi |
|
2728 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
19 |
6 |
|
GM |
Sarana, Alexey |
|
2706 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
20 |
47 |
|
GM |
Nesterov, Arseniy |
|
2589 |
2 |
0 |
3,5 |
2 |
21 |
15 |
|
GM |
Sindarov, Javokhir |
|
2684 |
2 |
0 |
3,5 |
2 |
22 |
77 |
|
IM |
Siddharth, Jagadeesh |
|
2508 |
2 |
0 |
3,5 |
2 |
23 |
1 |
|
GM |
Erigaisi, Arjun |
|
2761 |
2 |
0 |
3,5 |
2 |
|
34 |
|
GM |
Maurizzi, Marc`andria |
|
2617 |
2 |
0 |
3,5 |
2 |
25 |
23 |
|
GM |
Nguyen, Thai Dai Van |
|
2649 |
2 |
0 |
3,5 |
2 |
...88 players
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