Sharjah Masters: Giri and Indjic lead, Abdusattorov a half point back

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
5/23/2025 – With six rounds completed at the Sharjah Masters, Anish Giri and Aleksandar Indjic share the lead on 5 points, closely followed by top seed Nodirbek Abdusattorov on 4½. The open tournament remains tightly contested, with fourteen players trailing half a point behind Abdusattorov. Among the standout performers are lower-rated contenders Dai Changren and Visakh N R, as well as 11-year-old Faustino Oro, who remains undefeated. | Photos: Himank Ghosh / ChessBase India

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Giri and Abdusattorov to face off on Friday

After six rounds of play at the Sharjah Masters, second seed Anish Giri and eighth seed Aleksandar Indjic continue to share the lead with 5 points out of 6 each. Both players have registered four wins and two draws so far, remaining unbeaten in the nine-round open event. Giri, a long-standing member of the elite circuit, is edging closer to a return to the world's top 10 in the live rating list. Indjic, meanwhile, is enjoying a resurgence in form at the age of 29. Following his recent victory at the Baku Open, the Serbian grandmaster has now reached a career-high live rating of 2660.

Standing half a point behind the co-leaders is top seed Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who occupies sole third place on 4½ points. Abdusattorov's performance in Sharjah is all the more notable considering his concurrent participation in the Chess.com Classic online tournament - he played in that event from Tuesday to Thursday. The Uzbek GM had a slow start in Sharjah, drawing his first two games against players rated in the 2500s. However, he regained momentum with three wins in the next four rounds.

Round seven will see a key pairing on the top board, as Giri and Abdusattorov face each other in a matchup that may prove decisive for the final standings. Giri will have the white pieces.

A large group of fourteen players stand half a point behind Abdusattorov on 4/6. Among them are pre-tournament favourites and a number of lower-rated players. Notably, both Dai Changren (2531) from China and Visakh N R (2507) from India have shown that their early successes - starting with two wins apiece - were no accident.

One of the standout stories of the tournament remains that of 11-year-old Faustino Oro. The Argentine prodigy, seeded 81st out of 82 participants, has impressively remained undefeated, with one win and five draws to his name. In round seven, Oro is set for another tough challenge as he plays Black against ninth seed Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, a seasoned grandmaster from Vietnam.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov

Nodirbek Abdusattorov

In Thursday's sixth round, Giri obtained a key victory with the black pieces, as he defeated the ever-dangerous Parham Maghsoodloo. The Dutch grandmaster showed strong preparation to equalise out of a Semi-Slav - and got the upper hand once Maghsoodloo tried an exchange sacrifice which turned out to be mistaken.

Maghsoodloo v. Giri

White here went for 23.Rxc5 bxc5, intending to get winning chances with his passed pawn on the a-file. However, Giri showcased great tactical awareness to keep his opponent's threats at bay. A better alternative in the above diagram is 23.Qc2 bxa5 24.a4, with equality.

The battle on the queenside saw Maghsoodloo erring with 31.Nd6 later on, and after 31...Be5 32.Nc4, Giri managed to get rid of the more advanced pawn on the a-file (White's main trump in the position) with the good-looking 32...Qxa6

With the bishop under attack on e5, Giri's capture takes advantage of a few tactical features of the position: White's back rank weakness (combined with the dark-squared bishop's excellent placement) and the fact that in case of 33.Nxe5 he would capture White's light-squared bishop with 33...Qxb5.

The game continued with 33.Nb6 Qa7 34.Bd3 Bc7 35.Nc4 Bd4 and Maghsoodloo resigned.

White will lose material in all lines. A remarkable showing of tactical accuracy by Giri.

Sharjah Masters 2025

The top boards during round six

Standings after round 6

Rk. Name Pts. TB1
1 Giri, Anish 5 23
2 Indjic, Aleksandar 5 20
3 Abdusattorov, Nodirbek 4,5 18,5
4 Dai, Changren 4 24,5
5 Visakh, N R 4 24
6 Kozak, Adam 4 21,5
7 Aditya, Mittal 4 21,5
8 Woodward, Andy 4 21
9 Sargsyan, Shant 4 20
10 Amar, Elham 4 20
11 Ivic, Velimir 4 19,5
12 Zemlyanskii, Ivan 4 19,5
13 Tabatabaei, M. Amin 4 19
14 Theodorou, Nikolas 4 19
15 Daneshvar, Bardiya 4 18,5
16 Paravyan, David 4 18,5
17 Salem, A.R. Saleh 4 17,5
18 Maghsoodloo, Parham 3,5 22
19 Vetokhin, Savva 3,5 22
20 Xiao, Tong(Qd) 3,5 21
21 Sevian, Samuel 3,5 19,5
22 Iniyan, Pa 3,5 19,5
23 Pranav, Anand 3,5 19,5
24 Mamedov, Edgar 3,5 19,5
25 Oro, Faustino 3,5 19

...82 players

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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