Alef Super Stars 2023 Rapid R4-6: Yangyi still at the top, Nihal in pursuit
Yangyi Yu (CHN) maintains his sole lead by sharing points in all three games of Alef Super Stars Rapid 2023. The China no.3 is still the sole player who is undefeated at this event. Nihal Sarin scored his sole victory in the Rapid segment against Sanan Sjugirov (HUN). He remains in pursuit by maintaining the gap of 11 points. UAE no.1 Salem Saleh had the best day of the event so far. He scored two wins and a draw to jump to third spot. Yangyi is still in sole lead 40/60, Nihal stays in the hunt 29/60, Salem moved up to the third spot 27/60 and Sanan had a tough day, slipping to the fourth spot 24/60. Twelve rounds of Blitz will be played today. Blitz Round 1 starts today at 4:30 p.m. local time, 6 p.m. IST. Photos: Aditya Sur Roy
Yangyi is still undefeated
Nihal - Sanan, Round 6
Nihal made a nice knight sacrifice 25.Ncxd6! If Black accepts the sacrifice 25...cxd6 26.Bxd6+ and White recovers the material with ease. 25...N8e7 26.cxd4 cxd6 27.Bxd6 Rh7 28.Rac1 Bb6 29.f3 Bd8 30.fxg4 Kg8 31.Rc7!
White offers an exchange sacrifice. Once again, accepting the sacrifice leads to a quicker loss. 31...Nxf5 32.Rxd7 Bxg5 33.gxf5 Nxh4 34.g3 f6 35.Rxh7 Kxh7 36.gxh4 and White won in another four moves.
Format
All four players will play Double Round Robin in Classical and Rapid time controls. The Blitz event will be a Triple Round-Robin.
Time control
Classical: 40 moves in 90 minutes + additional 30 minutes with an increment of 30 seconds from move no.1.
Rapid: 15 minutes + 10 seconds increment.
Blitz: 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment.
Scoring
Classical: Win - 6 points, Draw - 3 points and Loss - 0
Rapid: Win - 4, Draw - 2 and Loss - 0
Blitz: Win - 2, Draw - 1 and Loss - 0
Schedule
Classical: 27th November to 3rd December. Every day game starts at 4:30 p.m. local time, 6 p.m. IST. Rest day is on Friday 1st December 2023.
Rapid: 4th and 5th December. Three rounds each day from 4:30 p.m. local time, 6 p.m. IST.
Blitz: 6th December. Round 1 starts at 4:30 p.m. local time, 6 p.m. IST.
Replay Rapid Round 4-6 games
Rapid Round 4-6 results
| Round 4 on 2023/12/05 at 16:30 | ||||||||||
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 2680 | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | 1 - 0 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | 2667 | 1 | |
| 2 | 3 | 2571 | GM | Sjugirov, Sanan | ½ - ½ | GM | Yu, Yangyi | 2699 | 2 | |
| Round 5 on 2023/12/05 at 17:45 | ||||||||||
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||
| 1 | 3 | 2571 | GM | Sjugirov, Sanan | 0 - 1 | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | 2680 | 4 | |
| 2 | 2 | 2699 | GM | Yu, Yangyi | ½ - ½ | GM | Nihal, Sarin | 2667 | 1 | |
| Round 6 on 2023/12/05 at 19:00 | ||||||||||
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||
| 1 | 4 | 2680 | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | ½ - ½ | GM | Yu, Yangyi | 2699 | 2 | |
| 2 | 1 | 2667 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | 1 - 0 | GM | Sjugirov, Sanan | 2571 | 3 | |
Standings after Round 6
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | TB1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | UAE | 2680 | 18 |
| 2 | 2 | GM | Yu, Yangyi | CHN | 2699 | 16 |
| 3 | 1 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | IND | 2667 | 8 |
| 4 | 3 | GM | Sjugirov, Sanan | HUN | 2571 | 6 |
Blitz Round 1 pairings
| Round 1 on 2023/12/06 at 16:30 | ||||||||||
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2689 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | 2668 | 4 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 2762 | GM | Yu, Yangyi | GM | Sjugirov, Sanan | 2569 | 3 | ||
