THE 4th Sharjah Masters started Sept. 17 in the emirate of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. After five rounds of play, six grandmasters – S.L. Narayanan (2632), M. Amin Tabatabaei (2634), Arkadij Naiditsch (2663), Mikheil Mchedlishvili (2571), A.R. Saleh Salem (2679), and Rinat Jumabayev (2651) – share the lead.
The strong event is a classical chess (90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment per move) nine-round Swiss competition with 60 players participating, of which 27 are grandmasters rated over Elo 2600+, nine GMs rated 2500+, 12 IMs/GMs rated Elo 2400+, eight IMs/GMs rated Elo 2300+ with the lowest-rated being 2173. All participants are titled, which really makes for a strong field. The cast is so competitive, top seed Bassem Amin, the only Elo 2700+ rated player, has met stiff resistance and has only three draws and two losses to show after five games. Filipino IM Oliver Dimakiling is competing and is now sharing 39th to 46th place.
Yilmaz, M (2624)-
Narayanan, S.L (2632) [D38]
Sharjah (3.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.Qa4+ Nc6 8.e3 0-0 9.Be2 dxc4 10.0-0 Bd7 11.Bxc4 Bd6 12.Qc2 e5 13.d5 Nb4 14.Qe2 a5 15.Rac1 Qe7 16.Nd2 Kh8 17.a3 Na6 18.Bxa6 Rxa6 19.Nb5 e4 20.Qc4 Be5 21.a4 c6 22.Nc3 f5 23.Qa2 cxd5 24.Nb5 Be6 25.Nb3 f4 26.exf4 Bxf4 27.Rce1 Qg5 28.Qa3 Rf6 29.Nc5 Bg4 30.Nxa6 Bxh2+ 31.Kxh2 Bf3 0-1
Can, E (2577)-
Tabatabaei, M.A (2624) [E10]
Sharjah (3.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bd6 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 h6 7.Nbd2 b6 8.cxd5 exd5 9.b3 Re8 10.Bb2 Bb7 11.Ne5 c5 12.Nec4 Bc7 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.Ne3 Rxe3 15.Bxf6 Qxf6 16.fxe3 Qe6 17.e4 dxe4 18.Qc2 f5 19.Nc4 Nc6 20.e3 h5 21.Rad1 Nb4 22.Qf2 Rf8 23.Rd2 Rf6 24.Rfd1 Nd5 25.Bf1 h4 26.Nd6 hxg3 27.hxg3 Bxd6 28.Bc4 Bxg3 29.Qg2 Kh7 30.Bxd5 Bxd5 31.Rxd5 Rh6 32.Rxc5 Qg6 33.Rdd5 Rh2 34.Qxh2+ Bxh2+ 35.Kxh2 Qh5+ 36.Kg1 Qg4+ 37.Kh2 Qe2+ 38.Kh1 g6 0-1
Adly, A (2619)-
Salem, A.R.S (2679) [D02]
Sharjah (4.2) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 c5 4.Bg2 cxd4 5.0-0 h6 6.a4 Nc6 7.Nxd4 e5 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.c4 Be7 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.Nc3 Be6 12.f4 e4 13.f5 Bc8 14.Be3 0-0 15.Bd4 Ba6 16.Kh1 Rb8 17.Rb1 Rb4 18.Bxf6 Bxf6 19.Qxd5 Bb7 20.Qxd8 Rxd8 21.Rfd1 Rc8 22.h3 Rc5 23.g4 Bc6 24.Rbc1 Bg5 25.Na2 Rxc1 26.Rxc1 Bxc1 27.Nxb4 Bxa4 28.Bxe4 Bxb2 29.Bd5 a5 30.Nd3 Bc3 31.Kg2 Bc2 32.Kf3 a4 33.Ke4 Kf8 34.Bc4 Bb1 35.Ke3 Ke7 36.h4 a3 37.Nc1 f6 38.Na2 Bb2 39.Kd2 Kd6 40.Bb3 Ke5 41.Nb4 Kf4 42.Nd3+ Kxg4 0-1
Jumabayev, R (2651)-
Gupta, A (2612) [A06]
Sharjah (5.5) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 e5 5.d3 Nc6 6.Nc3 d4 7.Ne4 h6 8.c3 Nge7 9.cxd4 exd4 10.Qa4 0-0 11.b4 a6 12.b5 Na7 13.bxa6 Nac6 14.Bb2 Rxa6 15.Qc2 b6 16.a3 Be6 17.Rac1 Ra7 18.Rfe1 Na5 19.e3 Nb3 20.Nxd4 Nxd4 21.exd4 Bxd4 22.Nf6+ Kg7 23.Nd5 c5 24.Bxd4+ cxd4 25.Nc7 Bb3 26.Qe2 Nf5 27.Bh3 Kg8 28.Qb2 Rxc7 29.Qxb3 Nd6 30.Qb4 Rxc1 31.Rxc1 Nb7 32.Rc6 Nc5 33.Bf1 Nd7 34.Qxd4 Qe7 35.Qd6 Re8 36.d4 Kg7 37.a4 Qxd6 38.Rxd6 Nf6 39.Rxb6 Re1 40.a5 Ne4 41.Rb2 Rd1 42.a6 Nd2 43.Kg2 Nxf1 44.Ra2 1-0
Naiditsch, A (2663)-
Mastrovasilis, D (2615) [C42]
Sharjah (5.4) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 c6 9.Re1 Bf5 10.Qb3 Qd7 11.Nc3 Nxc3 12.Bxf5 Qxf5 13.bxc3 b6 14.Bg5 f6 15.Bh4 dxc4 16.Qxc4+ Qd5 17.Qb3 Na6 18.c4 Qf7 19.Qa4 Nb4 20.Bg3 Bxg3 21.hxg3 c5 22.d5 b5 23.cxb5 Nxd5 24.Nd2 a6 25.Ne4 axb5 26.Qxb5 Nb4 27.Nd6 Qg6 28.Qxc5 Nd3 29.Qd5+ Kh8 30.Re7 Ne5 31.f4 Qxg3 32.Rxe5 fxe5 33.Nf7+ Kg8 34.Nh6+ Kh8 35.Qg8+ Rxg8 36.Nf7# 1-0
Mchedlishvili, M (2571)-
Sethuraman, S.P. (2628) [D45]
Sharjah (2.8) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.b3 0-0 8.Be2 b6 9.0-0 Bb7 10.Bb2 Rc8 11.Rad1 c5 12.cxd5 exd5 13.Qb1 a6 14.Rfe1 Re8 15.Bf1 c4 16.bxc4 dxc4 17.e4 Bb4 18.d5 b5 19.a3 Ba5 20.Nd4 Qb6 21.Re3 Ng4 22.Rg3 Nde5 23.Qc2 g6 24.Qd2 Nd3 25.Rxg4 Qxd4 26.Rg3 Qe5 27.Bxd3 cxd3 28.Rxd3 Rc4 29.d6 Bxc3 30.Bxc3 Qxe4 31.f3 Qc6 32.d7 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ng7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qxd5/xe3 2.Nc3#; 1…Kxd5 2.Qd4#; 1…Be5 2.Qf3#./PN
