6th Sharjah Masters 2023 R6: Top class play by Gukesh to climb to the top
The top board had not witnessed a decisive game since the first round of 6th Sharjah Masters 2023. D Gukesh was determined to change that. Trailing by a half point against Haik Martirosyan, Gukesh played out an equal rook and knight endgame. With a perfect play, the game should have ended in a draw. Both players were human, thus errors occurred. First the Armenia no.2 made an incorrect knight exchange offer which his opponent accepted. It gave Gukesh a decisive advantage. He fumbled on his way to finish line but Haik could not find a way to get back and the India no.2 won the game. The Americans - Samuel Sevian and Grigoriy Oparin are currently sharing the lead with Gukesh with a score of 4.5/6 each. Round 7 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Niklesh Jain
Nihal, Praggnanandhaa and Aryan in the hunt
Nihal Sarin and R Praggnanandhaa had a well contested draw against Yangyi Yu (CHN) and Anton Korobov (UKR) respectively. Aryan Chopra decided to make a short draw against Andrey Esipenko in just 18 moves.
Gukesh - Haik: 1-0
The previous three Classical rated games between GM D Gukesh (2732) and GM Haik Martirosyan (ARM, 2675) had ended in draws. Gukesh was trailing the sole leader Haik by a half point. It was the sixth round, so time for Gukesh to catch up was limited.
In the rook and knight endgame, Black made an unforced error 38...Nd6? 39.Nxd6 Rxd6 40.Rxc5 Rd2 41.Rb5 Rxh2+ 42.Kg5 Ke7 43.Rxb7+ and White is winning. However, since it's rook and pawn ending, things are not as easy as it may seem.
53.b5 actually allowed Black to get back in the game Kd6 54.Rc6+ Ke5 55.c4 and now Black needed to go f4+ to stay in the game. 55...Rb1? abandoned all hope for Black 56.b6 Ke4 57.c5 f4+ 58.Kg4 f3 59.Rf6 Kd5 60.Rf5+ Kc6 61.Kxf3 and White went on to win the game comfortably.
Replay the Live stream
Replay Round 6 games
Round 6 results
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 2 | GM | Gukesh, D | 2732 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | Martirosyan, Haik M. | 2675 | 15 | ||
| 2 | 16 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | 2673 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Yu, Yangyi | 2729 | 4 | ||
| 3 | 17 | GM | Oparin, Grigoriy | 2667 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Niemann, Hans Moke | 2708 | 6 | ||
| 4 | 9 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2688 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Korobov, Anton | 2664 | 18 | ||
| 5 | 11 | GM | Sevian, Samuel | 2684 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Kuybokarov, Temur | 2566 | 64 | ||
| 6 | 35 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | 2617 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Esipenko, Andrey | 2679 | 12 | ||
| 7 | 38 | GM | Kovalev, Vladislav | 2612 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Tabatabaei, M. Amin | 2677 | 14 | ||
| 8 | 1 | GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham | 2734 | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | 2630 | 28 | ||
| 9 | 5 | GM | Sjugirov, Sanan | 2712 | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | GM | Ju, Wenjun | 2550 | 70 | ||
| 10 | 27 | GM | Sargsyan, Shant | 2630 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2701 | 8 | ||
| 11 | 29 | GM | Petrosyan, Manuel | 2629 | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | GM | Predke, Alexandr | 2685 | 10 | ||
| 12 | 13 | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | 2677 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Murzin, Volodar | 2604 | 42 | ||
| 13 | 19 | GM | Sindarov, Javokhir | 2661 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Galperin, Platon | 2528 | 74 | ||
| 14 | 76 | GM | Aditya, Mittal | 2522 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Cheparinov, Ivan | 2660 | 20 | ||
| 15 | 67 | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | 2560 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | 2645 | 22 |
Standings after Round 6
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | ||
| 1 | 11 | GM | Sevian, Samuel | USA | 2684 | 4,5 | 0 | 19 | 15,5 | 1 | 2806 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | Gukesh, D | IND | 2732 | 4,5 | 0 | 17 | 14 | 0 | 2839 | |
| 3 | 17 | GM | Oparin, Grigoriy | USA | 2667 | 4,5 | 0 | 15,5 | 13 | 2 | 2809 | |
| 4 | 16 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | IND | 2673 | 4 | 0 | 19,5 | 16 | 0 | 2759 | |
| 5 | 38 | GM | Kovalev, Vladislav | FID | 2612 | 4 | 0 | 19 | 16 | 1 | 2789 | |
| 6 | 9 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | IND | 2688 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 15 | 1 | 2746 | |
| 7 | 35 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | IND | 2617 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 15 | 1 | 2739 | |
| 8 | 14 | GM | Tabatabaei, M. Amin | IRI | 2677 | 4 | 0 | 17 | 14,5 | 0 | 2730 | |
| 9 | 5 | GM | Sjugirov, Sanan | RUS | 2712 | 4 | 0 | 17 | 14 | 1 | 2712 | |
| 10 | 4 | GM | Yu, Yangyi | CHN | 2729 | 4 | 0 | 17 | 14 | 0 | 2768 | |
| 11 | 18 | GM | Korobov, Anton | UKR | 2664 | 4 | 0 | 16,5 | 13,5 | 0 | 2737 | |
| 12 | 28 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | UZB | 2630 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 13,5 | 1 | 2749 | |
| 13 | 12 | GM | Esipenko, Andrey | FID | 2679 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 13,5 | 0 | 2733 | |
| 14 | 15 | GM | Martirosyan, Haik M. | ARM | 2675 | 4 | 0 | 15,5 | 13 | 1 | 2738 | |
| 15 | 29 | GM | Petrosyan, Manuel | ARM | 2629 | 4 | 0 | 14,5 | 12 | 1 | 2718 |
Round 7 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 11 | GM | Sevian, Samuel | 2684 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Gukesh, D | 2732 | 2 | |||
| 2 | 4 | GM | Yu, Yangyi | 2729 | 4 | 4½ | GM | Oparin, Grigoriy | 2667 | 17 | |||
| 3 | 18 | GM | Korobov, Anton | 2664 | 4 | 4 | GM | Sjugirov, Sanan | 2712 | 5 | |||
| 4 | 28 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | 2630 | 4 | 4 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2688 | 9 | |||
| 5 | 12 | GM | Esipenko, Andrey | 2679 | 4 | 4 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | 2673 | 16 | |||
| 6 | 14 | GM | Tabatabaei, M. Amin | 2677 | 4 | 4 | GM | Petrosyan, Manuel | 2629 | 29 | |||
| 7 | 15 | GM | Martirosyan, Haik M. | 2675 | 4 | 4 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | 2617 | 35 | |||
| 8 | 6 | GM | Niemann, Hans Moke | 2708 | 3½ | 4 | GM | Kovalev, Vladislav | 2612 | 38 | |||
| 9 | 8 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2701 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Azarov, Sergei | 2582 | 59 | |||
| 10 | 64 | GM | Kuybokarov, Temur | 2566 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | 2677 | 13 | |||
| 11 | 46 | GM | Kadric, Denis | 2601 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Sindarov, Javokhir | 2661 | 19 | |||
| 12 | 20 | GM | Cheparinov, Ivan | 2660 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Vakhidov, Jakhongir | 2607 | 39 | |||
| 13 | 22 | GM | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | 2645 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Mchedlishvili, Mikheil | 2553 | 69 | |||
| 14 | 42 | GM | Murzin, Volodar | 2604 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Yilmaz, Mustafa | 2641 | 23 | |||
| 15 | 24 | GM | Abasov, Nijat | 2634 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | 2560 | 67 |
