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.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	9	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2688	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Nihal, Sarin	2673	16
2	70	GM	Ju, Wenjun	2550	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	2677	14
3	1	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	2734	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Nguyen, Thai Dai Van	2645	22
4	23	GM	Yilmaz, Mustafa	2641	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Gukesh, D	2732	2
5	25	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.	2633	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Yu, Yangyi	2729	4
6	5	GM	Sjugirov, Sanan	2712	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Abasov, Nijat	2634	24
7	27	GM	Sargsyan, Shant	2630	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	2708	6
8	35	GM	Aryan, Chopra	2617	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2701	8
9	39	GM	Vakhidov, Jakhongir	2607	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Predke, Alexandr	2685	10
10	11	GM	Sevian, Samuel	2684	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Yakubboev, Nodirbek	2630	28
11	58	GM	Vokhidov, Shamsiddin	2586	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Esipenko, Andrey	2679	12
12	13	GM	Salem, A.R. Saleh	2677	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Kovalev, Vladislav	2612	38
13	15	GM	Martirosyan, Haik M.	2675	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Yoo, Christopher Woojin	2607	40
14	17	GM	Oparin, Grigoriy	2667	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Murzin, Volodar	2604	42
15	78	GM	Asis Gargatagli, Hipolito	2519	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Korobov, Anton	2664	18

Details

Standings after Round 4

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	9	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	IND	2688	3	0	2	10,5
2	16	GM	Nihal, Sarin	IND	2673	3	0	2	10,5
3	11	GM	Sevian, Samuel	USA	2684	3	0	2	9,5
4	38	GM	Kovalev, Vladislav	FID	2612	3	0	2	8,5
5	70	GM	Ju, Wenjun	CHN	2550	3	0	2	8,5
6	14	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	IRI	2677	3	0	2	8,5
7	35	GM	Aryan, Chopra	IND	2617	3	0	2	7,5
8	15	GM	Martirosyan, Haik M.	ARM	2675	3	0	2	6,5
9	67	GM	Suleymanli, Aydin	AZE	2560	2,5	0	2	9
10	74	GM	Galperin, Platon	UKR	2528	2,5	0	2	8
11	64	GM	Kuybokarov, Temur	AUS	2566	2,5	0	2	7
12	26	GM	Dardha, Daniel	BEL	2631	2,5	0	2	6,5
13	55	GM	Theodorou, Nikolas	GRE	2591	2,5	0	2	6,5
14	48	GM	Sanal, Vahap	TUR	2600	2,5	0	2	6
15	59	GM	Azarov, Sergei	FID	2582	2,5	0	2	6

Details

Round 5 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	38	GM	Kovalev, Vladislav	2612	3		3	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2688	9
2	16	GM	Nihal, Sarin	2673	3		3	GM	Sevian, Samuel	2684	11
3	14	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	2677	3		3	GM	Aryan, Chopra	2617	35
4	15	GM	Martirosyan, Haik M.	2675	3		3	GM	Ju, Wenjun	2550	70
5	42	GM	Murzin, Volodar	2604	2½		2½	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	2734	1
6	2	GM	Gukesh, D	2732	2½		2½	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.	2633	25
7	4	GM	Yu, Yangyi	2729	2½		2½	GM	Dardha, Daniel	2631	26
8	46	GM	Kadric, Denis	2601	2½		2½	GM	Sjugirov, Sanan	2712	5
9	6	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	2708	2½		2½	GM	Vakhidov, Jakhongir	2607	39
10	10	GM	Predke, Alexandr	2685	2½		2½	GM	Sargsyan, Shant	2630	27
11	12	GM	Esipenko, Andrey	2679	2½		2½	GM	Theodorou, Nikolas	2591	55
12	48	GM	Sanal, Vahap	2600	2½		2½	GM	Oparin, Grigoriy	2667	17
13	18	GM	Korobov, Anton	2664	2½		2½	GM	Vokhidov, Shamsiddin	2586	58
14	20	GM	Cheparinov, Ivan	2660	2½		2½	GM	Suleymanli, Aydin	2560	67
15	64	GM	Kuybokarov, Temur	2566	2½		2½	GM	Narayanan.S.L,	2660	21

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament details

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