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Sharjah Masters 2019 begins with 84 Indians in fray

by Sagar Shah - 23/03/2019

84 Indians are taking part in the Sharjah Masters led by GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly, who recently achieved the gold medal on board three of World Team Championships 2019 with a 2850 performance. Out of the 178 participants, UAE, the host country, has only 23 players while India has 84! We also have in form Abhijeet Gupta, and the talented youngster Nihal Sarin who will be looking to cross 2600 in this event. India's youngest GM D.Gukesh doesn't stop playing chess. After becoming a GM, he played the Delhi GM Open 2019, then the Aeroflot followed by HD Bank and now Sharjah. Can we expect another 2700 performance from him? Some of the other talents on whom we should have our eyes are Raunak Sadhwani, Aditya Mittal, Leon Mendonca, Divya Deshmukh, Bharath Subramaniyam, Pranav Anand, Raahil Mullick and more! The first round began on 22nd of March 2019.

There are so many strong players in Indian chess that the 7-8 norm tournaments that take place home are not enough! That's the reason why be it any top open tournament Aeroflot, HD Bank, Gibraltar or for that matter Sharjah Masters and Dubai Open, you will always see a huge contingent of Indian players. At the Sharjah Masters out of 178 players, 84 are Indians! Even the host country UAE has only 23 participants. Iran has 9 players and Russia has 6. However, if you look carefully you will see that out of the top 20 seeds we have only three Indians. In fact in top 10 seeds we have no Indian player. Surya Sekhar Ganguly is the top Indian player, fresh from his 2850 performance at the World Teams, and he is the 13th seed.

SNoNameRtgRtgIFED1Pts.Rk.Krtg+/-
13GMGanguly Surya Shekhar26332633IND11,012100,80
17GMGupta Abhijeet26022602IND11,016100,80
19GMNihal Sarin25782578IND11,018100,80
23GMChanda Sandipan25342534IND11,021100,80
24GMDeepan Chakkravarthy J.25342534IND11,022100,80
25GMDebashis Das25322532IND11,023100,80
26IMGukesh D25292529IND½0,58310-4,20
28GMVishnu Prasanna. V25242524IND11,025100,80
30GMVenkatesh M.R.25172517IND11,027100,80
31IMStany G.A.25072507IND11,028100,80
35IMHarsha Bharathakoti24972497IND½0,58510-4,20
36GMKarthik Venkataraman24942494IND11,031100,80
39IMIniyan P24872487IND11,034100,80
42IMVignesh N R24762476IND11,037100,80
45IMSadhwani Raunak24552455IND11,039100,80
46CMAditya Mittal24542454IND11,040100,80
47CMMendonca Leon Luke24462446IND11,041100,80
50IMShyaamnikhil P24292429IND11,044100,80
51GMLaxman R.R.24252425IND11,045100,80
53IMRaja Rithvik R24232423IND11,047100,80
55IMAkshat Khamparia24152415IND½0,58710-4,20
56GMSundararajan Kidambi24132413IND11,049100,80
57IMAkash G24112411IND11,050100,80
58IMNitin S.24082408IND11,051100,80
62Saurabh Anand23852385IND11,055201,60
63IMDhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad23842384IND11,056201,60
67IMRathnakaran K.23612361IND11,060100,80
68IMFenil Shah23602360IND11,061100,90
69FMPranav Anand23592359IND½0,58820-8,40
71IMRaghunandan Kaumandur Srihari23522352IND11,063100,80
72IMSidhant Mohapatra23482348IND11,064100,80
73FMShailesh Dravid23162316IND11,065201,60
74CMBharath Subramaniyam H23012301IND11,066201,60
75Ajay Karthikeyan22982298IND11,067403,20
76WIMPriyanka Nutakki22972297IND11,068403,20
78IMSharma Dinesh K.22862286IND11,070100,80
80IMRavi Thandalam Shanmugam22762276IND½0,58910-4,20
82CMMullick Raahil22752275IND11,073403,20
84WIMDivya Deshmukh22662266IND11,075403,20
86Kunal M.22582258IND11,077201,60
87Pranav V22582258IND11,078201,60
88IMPraveen Kumar C22432243IND11,079100,80
91FMJeet Jain22192219IND00,010020-1,60
93Panda Sambit22182218IND00,010240-3,20
95FMSrihari L R22112211IND00,010420-1,60
101IMGokhale Chandrashekhar21852185IND00,010910-0,80
103Gandhi Anish21562156IND00,011120-1,60
106Jaeel Atharva21452145IND00,011440-3,20
110Thrish Karthik20962096IND½0,5904016,80
111Shiva Pavan Teja Sharma U20932093IND00,011820-1,60
114WCMMrudul Dehankar20782078IND00,012140-3,20
115WFMBommini Mounika Akshaya20762076IND½0,5914016,80
116Kumar Gaurav20742074IND00,012220-1,60
119Shanya Mishra20262026IND00,012540-3,20
121Sri Sai Baswanth P20182018IND½0,592208,40
122CMShahil Dey20072007IND00,012740-3,20
123WFMSanskriti Goyal20062006IND00,012840-3,20
124Mohammed Dilshad20062006IND½0,593208,40
125Krithigga K20022002IND00,012940-3,20
126Niklesh Kumar Jain19951995IND00,013020-1,60
127WIMGokhale Anupama19941994IND00,013120-1,60
128Parthasarathy R19891989IND00,013220-1,60
132Anilkumar O.T.19751975IND00,013620-1,60
133Mota Pankit19741974IND½0,594208,40
138WCMIsha Sharma19351935IND00,014120-1,60
139Rakshith Srinivasan19231923IND00,014240-3,20
141Souradip Deb18991899IND00,014420-1,60
142Gokhale Rishabh Chandrashekhar18951895IND00,014540-3,20
144Abid Ali Mujawar18691869IND00,014720-1,60
145Rohit S18681868IND½0,5954016,80
146WFMMeghna C H18631863IND00,014820-1,60
147WFMDhyana Patel18481848IND00,014940-3,20
148Jinan Jomon18481848IND00,015040-3,20
150Varsha Ramesh18311831IND00,015240-3,20
151AIMKaushik G Iyer17711771IND00,015340-3,20
153AIMSidharth Balaji Sridharan17321732IND00,015540-3,20
155Devnani Kush16501650IND00,015740-3,20
156Aagam Aditya E16491649IND00,015840-3,20
157Antony Jesumarian Leslie16211621IND00,015940-3,20
159Singh Gurmeher15891589IND00,016040-3,20
162Rebecca Jesumarian15611561IND00,016340-3,20
167AIMVishal Choudary B15191519IND00,016840-3,20
168Harikrishnan C15141514IND00,016940-3,20
169Sharon Rafael14741474IND½0,5974016,80

The beautiful Sharjah Chess Club where the tournament will be held from 22nd to the 31st of March 2019

Surya Sekhar Ganguly is the strongest Indian in the fray | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Abhijeet Gupta and his wife Aditi with GM Deepan Chakkravarthy | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Abhijeet had a tough game in round one, but he managed to win!  | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Nihal Sarin had a strong start to his campaign | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The youngest GM in the world at this point of time! D. Gukesh. He was held to a draw in round one by Akshaya Bommini Mounika | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The top seed of the event - Wang Hao. The Chinese GM won the HD Bank International (check his t-shirt) and also the rapid tournament in Saudi Arabia. He will be looking forward to keeping up his form and scoring another win. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Vladimir Fedoseev will be looking to make his mark at the event | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Not to be messed with Maxim Matlakov | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The top boards of the playing hall | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The Sharjah Open organization team | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Inauguration on the top board! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

A very nice touch inside the Sharjah Chess Club - The Checkmate Cafe! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The ChessBase India Group Tour

The ChessBase India Group Tour to Sharjah Masters consists of seven players - WIM Angela Franco, Niklesh Jain (manager), Mrudul Dehankar, Sanskriti Goyal, Souradip Deb, Rakshith Srinivasan and Kaushik Iyer. The idea of ChessBase India Power Group Tours is simple - young children should be able to travel to important tournaments and to fulfil their potential even if their parents or guardians are unable to travel with them. With this service we not only hope that there would not only be a financial gain for the players (as their parents don't have to travel) but also it teaches the players the art of being independent and responsible.

Group Tour Manager Niklesh Jain with his wife Angela Franco, Souradip Deb, Sanskriti Goyal and Mrudul Dehankar left together from Mumbai | Photo: Niklesh Jain

They were joined by Rakshith Srinivasan and Kaushik Iyer from Bangalore | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Sanskriti Goyal lost to Nasanjargal Urtnasan | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Mrudul Dehankar fought hard against Debashis Das but in the end had to accept defeat | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Laxman beat Souradip Deb | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Rakshith Srinivasan lost to Gulrukhbegim Tohirjonova | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Kaushik Iyer lost to Amir Zaibi | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The rooms for the players travelling with ChessBase India Power

Spacious and comfortable with the perfect ambience to prepare in peace for the event

A kitchen to cook your own food!

A gym to stay fit and in the best physical shape for the tournament!

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