4/3/2017 – The final round of the Sharjah Masters kept fans glued to their seats as they watched the final deciding games that would decide the podium. After the dust had settled, six players shared the score of 7.0/9, with Wang Hao from China taking first on tiebreak, followed by Baskaran Adhiban in second and Martyn Kravtsiv in third. Here is the final illustrated report with GM analysis from the players. | Photo: Maria Emelianova
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Reporting the results barely does justice to just how tense the final round was. With six players tied for first, and four entering the final round tied for first, one imagines that it was hardly all about quick handshakes and scoresheet signing.
Video report of round nine
Daniel King speaks with Wang Hao, Yuriy Kryvoruchko, Adhiban Baskara and Martyn Kravtsiv | Powerplay Chess on YouTube
The one game between actual leaders was more a formality, and Wang Hao and Yuriy Kryvoruchko only made a half-hearted attempt, more seeing whether either was feeling frisky or not, before shaking hands after 28 moves in a virtually symmetrical position.
This left them both with 7.0/9, but also meant that should either Adhiban or Kravtsiv win their games, they might take sole lead themselves. That said, they were also playing black and both faced 2700 opponents, so the odds were in favor of this not happening.
Top seed Radoslaw Wojtaszek fught valiantly but was unable to get into full gear | Photo: Maria Emelianova
Top seed Wojtaszek got an edge, and was certainly playing for a win, since with 6.0/8 he absolutely needed the full point to have a chance for a place on the podium. This was good news for Adhiban, playing black, since it meant the game would be a live one with chances of his own. With 6.5/8, a draw would put him on parity with the leaders, while a win could mean sole first. The Indian ended up worse for a good part of the game, so when he drew it, it was not an unhappy result for him.
Baskaran Adhiban managed to take second in the end | Photo: Maria Emelianova
Finally came Naiditsch with 6.0/8 and Kravtsiv with 6.5/8, in a similar strategical situation as Wojtaszek and Adhiban. The Ukrainian played an excellent game and after a long battle reached a completely won opposite-colored bishop ending. The rolling phalanx of pawns should have been a no-brainer, but instead the nerves and prospect of sole gold (by then he knew the results of his rival co-leaders) caused him to crack, and let Naiditsch escape with a nice finesse.
Arkadij Naiditsch vs Martyn Kravtsiv
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48.a3Black has a crushing advantage, and the win should be fairly straightforward.g3?Almost anything was better than this howler. The most obvious choice was48...h549.Kh2Ke450.Bc7g3+!with an important difference from the game:51.fxg3f352.Bb6Kd353.Kg1Ke249.fxg3fxg350.h5!A very fine move that effectively saves the half point now.Kf4If Black were to play50...Kg5with the intention of capturing the h5 pawn, White plays51.Be3+Kxh552.Kg2and either the g3 or h6 pawn will fall with a tablebase draw.51.Bc5Kg452.Be3Kxh553.Kg2Kg454.Bxh6Bc6+55.Kf1Kf356.Bd2e457.Be1Ba458.Kg1Bb559.Bb4e360.Bd6Bc661.Bc7g262.Ba5Ke263.Bb4Kd1
An epic battle that will leave Kravtsiv with a few regrets as he was poised to take sole first had he beat Naiditsch.
Arkadij Naiditsch resets the pieces as Martyn Kravtsiv signs his scoresheet | Photo: Maria Emelianova
S.P. Sethuraman was another Indian to take a piece from the podium pie as he won his last game against Akopian, which he presents below.
S.P. Sethuraman | Photo: Maria Emelianova
S.P. Sethuraman vs Vladimir Akopian
Coming in fifth place was Indian player Sethuraman, who knew that the only way to get a decent prize was to win his game, and win it he did, against Vladimir Akopian. Here he analyzes the final phase with Daniel King.
Although the distribution of material with a rook and two minor pieces against a rook and two minor pieces is a very common one in practical play, there is very little literature on the subject apart from that dealing with questions relating to the bishop pair.
The final player to join the group on 7.0/9 was Salem Saleh, the local hero. Salem had had a dodgy start with only 2.0/4 in the start, but gained steam quickly and finished with an immaculate 5.0/5 beating Ukrainian Areschenko in the final round.
In the end, Wang Hao’s superb campaign also gave him the best tiebreak, and he took first, while Adhiban came in second, and Kravtsiv took third.
The top female prize went to Harika Dronavalli, easily the highest rated in the event. In the final round she drew Mikhaylo Oleksiyenko, rated 2643 and finished with 6.0/9.
Harika Dronavalli extends a hand to Mikhaylo Oleksiyenko| Photo: Maria Emelianova
A special mention to WFM Srija Seshadri, rated 2166, who scored 5½/9 with a 2428 performance!
WFM Srija Seshadri| Photo: Maria Emelianova
Matthias Bluebaum vs Ahmad Asgarizadeh
Matthias Bluebaum came into the final round higher rated and determined to win with white. Win he did in very short time, and he presents his miniature here.
Matthias Bluebam with Daniel King | Powerplay Chess on YouTube
Rustam Kasimdzhanov, the FIDE World Champion in 2004, has been extremely successful with the Nimzo-Indian with 4.Qc2 with White and with Black. In over 4 hours of video, Rustam Kasimdzhanov explains all the important ideas, strategies and tricks helped by sample games in which the white side is represented, e.g., by Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik and Ivanchuk as well as the author himself.
After the round, kids gather around to analyze and play. Kids who score 2520 performances it should be noted, such as IM Praggnanandhaa and Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
IM Praggnanandhaa (in stripped shirt)| Photo: Maria Emelianova
Group photo with organizers, arbiters and winners (click or tap to expand) | Photo: Maria Emelianova
Albert SilverBorn 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, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.
Throughout the video course, Sasikran shows various examples from his career to explain sacrifices for initiative, an attack, a better pawn structure and much more.
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