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6th Sharjah Masters 2023 R4: Aryan Chopra outplays Arjun Erigaisi

by Shahid Ahmed - 21/05/2023

The highly anticipated game of the fourth round between Praggnanandhaa and Nihal ended in a draw. Pragg has never beaten Nihal in a Classical rated game. He had a good opportunity to change that statistic, when Nihal made an incorrect exchange sacrifice in time trouble. However, he was unable to seize it and his opponent accepted the draw offer. Aryan Chopra defeated Arjun Erigaisi for the first time in a Classical game. The former outplayed the Arjun when he made a few positional mistakes. D Gukesh missed a clear winning combination against Mustafa Yilmaz. Later the Turkey no.1 missed his chance and the game ended in a draw. Round 5 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FI Niklesh Jain

Eight in the lead

Three Indians - R Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin and Aryan Chopra are currently sharing the lead with Samuel Sevian (USA), Vladislav Kovalev, Wenjun Ju (CHN), M Amin Tabatabaei (IRI) and Haik M Martirosyan (ARM). All of them are at 3/4 each.

GM Aryan Chopra scored an emphatic victory over GM Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: FI Niklesh Jain

Praggnanandhaa - Nihal: 0.5-0.5

GM R Praggnanandhaa (2688) has never beaten GM Nihal Sarin (2673) in a Classical rated game. Their last Classical encounter was over four years ago at Aeroflot Open which Nihal won. Nihal was running low on time and he made an exchange sacrifice which was incorrect.

Position after 49...Rxd4?

The 44th Chess Olympiad individual Gold medalist, Nihal made an unforced error 49...Rxd4. 49...bxa4 50.Rxa4 c5 would have been fine. However, he needed more time to find out the entire line. 50.Nxd4 Qxd4 and now 51.Qe3 would have put White in the driver's seat. Instead, 51.axb5? allowed Black to save the game Qxe4+ 52.Kg1 cxb5 53.Rxa5 Nd3 54.Qd2 and Nihal accepted Pragg's draw offer.

Final moments: GM R Praggnanandhaa vs GM Nihal Sarin | Video: ChessBase India
Praggnanandhaa and Nihal leave with a smile after their game| Video: ChessBase India
Starting moments: GM R Praggnanandhaa vs GM Nihal Sarin | Video: ChessBase India

GM Nihal Sarin remains undefeated against GM R Praggnanandhaa in Classical rated games | Photo: FI Niklesh Jain
Czech Republic no.2 GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen drew against the top seed of the tournament - GM Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI) | Video: ChessBase India

Mustafa - Gukesh

Position after 30.Qh6??

Black already got a substantial advantage a couple of moves ago. 30.Qh6?? gave the biggest and clear path to victory. Can you find what Gukesh missed? Vishy Anand tweeted the correct continuation. The game continued, 30...Nxe5 31.Qf4 Qxf4 32.Bxf4 and Black's attack fizzled out. Later on in the endgame, Mustafa got a few chances which he missed.

Turkey no.1 GM Mustafa Yilmaz talks about his game | Video: ChessBase India

Both GM D Gukesh and GM Mustafa Yilmaz missed their winning chances | Photo: FI Niklesh Jain

Aryan - Arjun: 1-0

GM Aryan Chopra (2617) has never defeated GM Arjun Erigaisi (2701) in a Classical rated game until yesterday. Last year at the same event, Arjun won against Aryan. It was time for Aryan to avenge it. 

Position after 31...Kg7?

It would not be an understatement to say Black is positionally lost after 31...Kg7. Instead, 30...Kh8 31.Rf2 Rf7 32.Qc3 Raf8 and Black could have continued the fight. 32.f5 immediately was possible. However, White delayed it 32.Be4 c4 33.f5 Bg8 34.Qf4 Rae8 35.Bg2 d3 36.e6 and White went on to win the game.

GM Aryan Chopra analyzes his win over GM Arjun Erigaisi | Video: ChessBase India

The Official Commentators - GM FST Ivan Sokolov (NED) and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni (LUX) | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
The inception of Sharjah Masters - Tournament Director, Omar Noaman Al Ali | Video: ChessBase India

Replay the Live stream

Replay Sharjah Masters Round 4 live commentary by Amruta Mokal | Video: ChessBase India
Replay Sharjah Masters Round 4 live commentary by GM FST Ivan Sokolov (NED) and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni (LUX) | Video: Sharjah Chess

Replay Round 4 games

Round 4 results

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
19
GMPraggnanandhaa, R2688½ - ½GMNihal, Sarin2673
16
270
GMJu, Wenjun2550½ - ½GMTabatabaei, M. Amin2677
14
31
GMMaghsoodloo, Parham27342½ - ½2GMNguyen, Thai Dai Van2645
22
423
GMYilmaz, Mustafa26412½ - ½2GMGukesh, D2732
2
525
GMAravindh, Chithambaram Vr.26332½ - ½2GMYu, Yangyi2729
4
65
GMSjugirov, Sanan27122½ - ½2GMAbasov, Nijat2634
24
727
GMSargsyan, Shant26302½ - ½2GMNiemann, Hans Moke2708
6
835
GMAryan, Chopra261721 - 02GMErigaisi, Arjun2701
8
939
GMVakhidov, Jakhongir26072½ - ½2GMPredke, Alexandr2685
10
1011
GMSevian, Samuel268421 - 02GMYakubboev, Nodirbek2630
28
1158
GMVokhidov, Shamsiddin25862½ - ½2GMEsipenko, Andrey2679
12
1213
GMSalem, A.R. Saleh267720 - 12GMKovalev, Vladislav2612
38
1315
GMMartirosyan, Haik M.267521 - 02GMYoo, Christopher Woojin2607
40
1417
GMOparin, Grigoriy26672½ - ½2GMMurzin, Volodar2604
42
1578
GMAsis Gargatagli, Hipolito25192½ - ½2GMKorobov, Anton2664
18

Details

Standings after Round 4

Rk.SNo NameFEDRtgPts. TB1  TB2  TB3 
19
GMPraggnanandhaa, RIND268830210,5
216
GMNihal, SarinIND267330210,5
311
GMSevian, SamuelUSA26843029,5
438
GMKovalev, VladislavFID26123028,5
570
GMJu, WenjunCHN25503028,5
614
GMTabatabaei, M. AminIRI26773028,5
735
GMAryan, ChopraIND26173027,5
815
GMMartirosyan, Haik M.ARM26753026,5
967
GMSuleymanli, AydinAZE25602,5029
1074
GMGalperin, PlatonUKR25282,5028
1164
GMKuybokarov, TemurAUS25662,5027
1226
GMDardha, DanielBEL26312,5026,5
1355
GMTheodorou, NikolasGRE25912,5026,5
1448
GMSanal, VahapTUR26002,5026
1559
GMAzarov, SergeiFID25822,5026

Details

Round 5 pairings

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
138
GMKovalev, Vladislav261233GMPraggnanandhaa, R2688
9
216
GMNihal, Sarin267333GMSevian, Samuel2684
11
314
GMTabatabaei, M. Amin267733GMAryan, Chopra2617
35
415
GMMartirosyan, Haik M.267533GMJu, Wenjun2550
70
542
GMMurzin, Volodar2604GMMaghsoodloo, Parham2734
1
62
GMGukesh, D2732GMAravindh, Chithambaram Vr.2633
25
74
GMYu, Yangyi2729GMDardha, Daniel2631
26
846
GMKadric, Denis2601GMSjugirov, Sanan2712
5
96
GMNiemann, Hans Moke2708GMVakhidov, Jakhongir2607
39
1010
GMPredke, Alexandr2685GMSargsyan, Shant2630
27
1112
GMEsipenko, Andrey2679GMTheodorou, Nikolas2591
55
1248
GMSanal, Vahap2600GMOparin, Grigoriy2667
17
1318
GMKorobov, Anton2664GMVokhidov, Shamsiddin2586
58
1420
GMCheparinov, Ivan2660GMSuleymanli, Aydin2560
67
1564
GMKuybokarov, Temur2566GMNarayanan.S.L,2660
21

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament details


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