7th Sharjah Masters R1: Arjun Erigaisi makes Safarli suffer, now World no.6

by Shahid Ahmed - 15/05/2024

Arjun Erigaisi, Aravindh Chithambaram and Iniyan Pa are the three Indians to make a winning start at 7th Sharjah Masters 2024. Arjun scored an emphatic victory over Eltaj Safarli (AZE) to become World no.6 in the live ratings. Aravindh and Iniyan registered victories over Bharath Subramaniyam H and Pouya Idani (IRI); Sethuraman S P, Sankalp Gupta, B Adhiban and Harika Dronavalli drew against Teimour Radjabov (AZE), Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (ARM), Abhimanyu Puranik and Manuel Petrosyan (ARM) respectively. In the Challengers section, Ankit Ray scored a big win over IM Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov (UZB). Round 2 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Aditya Sur Roy

Arjun, Aravindh and Iniyan make a winning start

19 Indians are taking part out of the total 88 players in the Masters section which is up from previous year's 20.51% to 21.59%. The total prize fund is more than US$ 65000, the total prize fund in Masters is US$ 52000. The top three prizes are $12000, $8000 and $7000 each.

GM Arjun Erigaisi started 7th Sharjah Masters with a victory and he is now World no.6 in the live ratings

Arjun Erigaisi is now World no.6 in the live ratings | Source: 2700chess.com

Arjun - Safarli: 1-0

GM Arjun Erigaisi (2761) faced GM Eltaj Safarli (AZE, 2594) for the second time at the same event. Earlier, they clashed in the second edition in 2018 which the Azeri won. A little over a fortnight ago they drew in the same month. A lot has changed in six years. Arjun Erigaisi is now World no.8. So naturally, it was about time he delivered the equalizer.

Position after 16...Nf6

The above position arose out of Sicilian Najdorf. 17.fxe5 Ne4? 18.Qe1 dxe5 the difference in the move order of playing dxe5 or Ne4 first is huge. 19.c5 Bf6 20.d6 Qd7 21.Nc4 Rae8 22.Nb6 Qd8 23.d7 Re7 the passed d-pawn yielded an exchange and White went on to convert his advantage into a win.

Arjun Erigaisi vs Eltaj Safarli - Full game | Video: ChessBase India

The defending champion Arjun Erigaisi starts his defense with an emphatic win

GM Sethuraman S P - GM Teimour Radjabov (AZE): 0.5-0.5

GM Aravindh Chithambaram won the All-Indian clash against GM Bharath Subramaniyam H

GM Sankalp Gupta (pictured) survived a tough battle against GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (ARM)

Another All-Indian clash between GM Abhimanyu Puranik and GM B Adhiban ended in a draw

GM Harika Dronavalli - GM Manuel Petrosyan (ARM): 0.5-0.5

The Art of Balancing Motherhood & Professional Chess - Harika Dronavalli | Video: ChessBase India

Iniyan - Pouya

Position after 44.Ke4

The white king is aiming for the f5-square to attack the base of the pawn chain at f6. 45.Kf5 cannot be prevented, however, what is the best defense for Black. It is not easy to find and GM Pouya Idani (IRI, 2605) could not manage to defend.

GM Iniyan Pa scored a fine victory over GM Pouya Idani (IRI)

Challengers: Ankit stuns Suyarov, Ajay and Mukund draw with GMs

Ajay, Santhosh Parvathareddy (2174) and Mukund Hemant Agarwal (2096) drew with GM Cristhian Camilo Rios Gomez (COL, 2466) and GM Efstratios Grivas (GRE, 2396) respectively. Ankit Ray (2102) thwarted IM Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov's (UZB, 2429) all-out attack.

Ankit Ray scored a big win over IM Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov (UZB)

Mukund H Agarwal (pictured) - GM Efstratios Grivas (GRE): 0.5-0.5

Venue - Sharjah Cultural and Chess Club

The tournament hall

Inaugural first move

For more Round 1 photos, please click here and here.

7th Sharjah Masters 2024 Round 1 starting moments | Video: ChessBase India

Netherlands no.2 - GM Jorden van Foreest made an interesting tweet

Netherlands no.1 and World no.15 - GM Anish Giri also opined on it

Replay the Live stream

Replay Sharjah Masters Round 1 live commentary by Amruta Mokal | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 1 Masters games

Replay Round 1 Challengers games

Round 1 Masters results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	1	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2761	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Safarli, Eltaj	2594	45	PGN
2	46	GM	Vokhidov, Shamsiddin	2591	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	2732	2	PGN
3	3	GM	Yu, Yangyi	2728	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Nesterov, Arseniy	2589	47	PGN
4	48	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.	2588	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Radjabov, Teimour	2723	4	PGN
5	5	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	2707	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Pranav, V	2587	49	PGN
6	50	GM	Daneshvar, Bardiya	2581	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Sarana, Alexey	2706	6	PGN
7	7	GM	Artemiev, Vladislav	2705	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Moroni, Luca Jr	2580	51	PGN
8	52	GM	Gurel, Ediz	2578	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Esipenko, Andrey	2703	8	PGN
9	9	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	2701	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Peralta, Fernando	2573	53	PGN
10	54	GM	Mchedlishvili, Mikheil	2567	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Sevian, Samuel	2698	10	PGN
11	11	GM	Narayanan, S L	2695	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Sanal, Vahap	2566	55	PGN
12	56	GM	Muradli, Mahammad	2560	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Deac, Bogdan-Daniel	2692	12	PGN
13	13	GM	Sjugirov, Sanan	2691	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Kadric, Denis	2558	57	PGN
14	58	GM	Dudin, Gleb	2554	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	2688	14	PGN
15	15	GM	Sindarov, Javokhir	2684	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Horvath, Dominik	2553	59	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 1

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.
1	14	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	USA	2688	1
	28	GM	Murzin, Volodar	FID	2631	1
	30	GM	Salem, A.R. Saleh	UAE	2629	1
	38	GM	Ivanchuk, Vasyl	UKR	2609	1
	42	GM	Kuybokarov, Temur	AUS	2600	1
	69	GM	Krzyzanowski, Marcin	POL	2526	1
7	1	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2761	1
	5	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	IRI	2707	1
	9	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	SLO	2701	1
	19	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2670	1
	23	GM	Nguyen, Thai Dai Van	CZE	2649	1
	27	GM	Mishra, Abhimanyu	USA	2634	1
	37	GM	Theodorou, Nikolas	GRE	2616	1
	43	GM	Vakhidov, Jakhongir	UZB	2599	1
	56	GM	Muradli, Mahammad	AZE	2560	1

Details

Round 2 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	37	GM	Theodorou, Nikolas	2616	1	1	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2761	1
2	38	GM	Ivanchuk, Vasyl	2609	1	1	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	2707	5
3	42	GM	Kuybokarov, Temur	2600	1	1	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	2701	9
4	14	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	2688	1	1	GM	Vakhidov, Jakhongir	2599	43
5	56	GM	Muradli, Mahammad	2560	1	1	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.	2670	19
6	68	GM	Kacharava, Nikolozi	2527	1	1	GM	Nguyen, Thai Dai Van	2649	23
7	69	GM	Krzyzanowski, Marcin	2526	1	1	GM	Mishra, Abhimanyu	2634	27
8	28	GM	Murzin, Volodar	2631	1	1	GM	Iniyan, Pa	2493	84
9	30	GM	Salem, A.R. Saleh	2629	1	1	IM	Royal, Shreyas	2463	88
10	2	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	2732	½	½	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.	2588	48
11	51	GM	Moroni, Luca Jr	2580	½	½	GM	Yu, Yangyi	2728	3
12	4	GM	Radjabov, Teimour	2723	½	½	GM	Vokhidov, Shamsiddin	2591	46
13	6	GM	Sarana, Alexey	2706	½	½	GM	Gurel, Ediz	2578	52
14	47	GM	Nesterov, Arseniy	2589	½	½	GM	Artemiev, Vladislav	2705	7
15	8	GM	Esipenko, Andrey	2703	½	½	GM	Daneshvar, Bardiya	2581	50

Details

Round 1 Challengers results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	1	IM	Pang, Tao	2496	0	+ - -	0		Elier, Ali	2184	49
2	50	FM	Borisova, Ekaterina	2181	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Delgado Ramirez, Neuris	2483	2	PGN
3	3	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	2480	0	1 - 0	0	FM	Kazarian, Anna-Maja	2181	51	PGN
4	52		Ajay, Santhosh Parvathareddy	2174	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Rios Gomez, Cristhian Camilo	2466	4	PGN
5	5	IM	Movahed, Sina	2463	0	1 - 0	0	IM	Sultan, Ibrahim	2171	53	PGN
6	54	FM	Nadir, Samir	2158	0	0 - 1	0	IM	Nitish, Belurkar	2449	6	PGN
7	7	FM	Lashkin, Jegor	2449	0	1 - 0	0	CM	Dr., Murtaza Ali	2158	55	PGN
8	56	AFM	Sureka, Akshat	2141	0	0 - 1	0	IM	Divya, Deshmukh	2440	8	PGN
9	9	IM	Mohammad Fahad, Rahman	2431	0	1 - 0	0	WFM	Ovezdurdyyeva, Jemal	2140	57	PGN
10	58		Khalifa Essa, Albalooshi	2135	0	0 - 1	0	IM	Garifullina, Leya	2430	10	PGN
11	11	IM	Suyarov, Mukhammadzokhid	2429	0	0 - 1	0		Ankit, Ray	2102	59	PGN
12	60		Daksh, Jain	2101	0	½ - ½	0		Wang, Yanbin	2415	12	PGN
13	13	IM	Harsh, Suresh	2414	0	1 - 0	0		Hajialiyev, Islam	2101	61
14	62		Mukund, Hemant Agarwal	2096	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Grivas, Efstratios	2396	14
15	15	GM	Hesham, Abdelrahman	2391	0	1 - 0	0		Ghazaryan, Raffi	2094	63

Details

Standings after Round 1

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.
1	2	GM	Delgado Ramirez, Neuris	PAR	2483	1
	6	IM	Nitish, Belurkar	IND	2449	1
	8	IM	Divya, Deshmukh	IND	2440	1
	10	IM	Garifullina, Leya	FID	2430	1
	16	IM	Viani, Antonio Dcunha	IND	2386	1
	18	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	IND	2383	1
	24	IM	Anwesh, Upadhyaya	IND	2345	1
	26	IM	Ezat, Mohamed	EGY	2340	1
	30	IM	Farahat, Ali	USA	2327	1
	34	WGM	Heinemann, Josefine	GER	2303	1

Details

Round 2 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	IM	Pang, Tao	2496	1	1	FM	Hakobyan, Erik	2335	27
2	2	GM	Delgado Ramirez, Neuris	2483	1	1	FM	Laddha, Shubh Jayesh	2324	31
3	26	IM	Ezat, Mohamed	2340	1	1	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	2480	3
4	30	IM	Farahat, Ali	2327	1	1	IM	Movahed, Sina	2463	5
5	6	IM	Nitish, Belurkar	2449	1	1	IM	Kanyamarala, Tarun	2301	35
6	34	WGM	Heinemann, Josefine	2303	1	1	FM	Lashkin, Jegor	2449	7
7	8	IM	Divya, Deshmukh	2440	1	1	FM	Nagarkatte, Vedant	2299	37
8	36	FM	Lopez Rayo, Santiago	2299	1	1	IM	Mohammad Fahad, Rahman	2431	9
9	10	IM	Garifullina, Leya	2430	1	1	IM	George Micheal, Kevin	2258	41
10	40	WIM	Kanyamarala, Trisha	2263	1	1	IM	Harsh, Suresh	2414	13
11	42		Devnani, Kush	2249	1	1	GM	Hesham, Abdelrahman	2391	15
12	16	IM	Viani, Antonio Dcunha	2386	1	1	FM	Jaiveer, Mahendru	2244	43
13	45	FM	Mulenga, Prince Daniel	2220	1	1	IM	Aradhya, Garg	2385	17
14	18	IM	Sammed Jaykumar, Shete	2383	1	1	WFM	Kaliakhmet, Elnaz	2202	46
15	47	WIM	Aydin, Gulenay	2195	1	1	FM	Piliposyan, Robert	2364	21

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations

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