The United Arab Emirates is not exactly the first place that comes to mind as being well known for its chess players, and indeed, the country has only produced two Grandmasters to date. Nevertheless, I was surprised to learn that chess is in fact a very popular pastime in this Middle Eastern country, and that there was a very strong event planned to resume this year in one of the UAE’s largest cities.
The Tournament of The Month is the Sharjah Masters. While only the fourth edition of the tournament, if it can repeat its early success there will certainly be many more to come. This year saw a nine round Swiss system with a $60,000 prize fund, in which only players with a FIDE rating of 2300 or above would be permitted to attend. That fact alone certainly goes a long way towards promising a strong field.
Indeed, looking at the starting ranks it is clear that the organizers in Sharjah were not looking to put on any ordinary chess event. In the 60-player field, more than 40 of the participants were GMs, and an interesting selection of talented lower players gave the field a much-needed depth. One detail of great importance was the fact that the time control for the event was 90 minutes for the whole game – no second time control – with a thirty second increment starting from move one.
Right from the first round, there were already a great deal of GM-on-GM matchups, more than one surprising upset, and the typically uneven games that often feature in earlier rounds. Arguably the most shocking result of the first round came in the game Romanishin-Tabatabaei. Oleg Romanishin is a legendary GM from the days of the Soviet Union, and though his play has declined a bit, he is certainly still capable of playing good chess. Against strong Iranian GM Mohammed Amin Tabatabaei, he did just that, only to lose on time with an extra piece in a theoretically drawn position! Tabatabaei finished the tournament in a tie for first, and this was certainly a very fortunate result from very early on that perhaps propelled him to an even stronger performance.
Of all of the first-round battles, I was most impressed by Georgian GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili’s confident win as black against second seed Parham Maghsoodloo. After an interesting theoretical scuffle and a well-played middlegame, the position boiled down to a very unusual material imbalance of white’s two minor pieces versus black’s rook and two pawns. Yes, that is a lot of pawns! However, Maghsoodloo’s knight and bishop were both very active and well placed, leaving the game hanging in dynamic equality for quite some time. In the end, it was the clock that told. There was simply not enough time to navigate such a sharp position whilst playing on the increment alone!
Unfortunately, there was so much fascinating chess in this tournament that it would take far too long to review all of the interesting games. From the early rounds, my eye was also drawn to a very practical strategic fight from a Closed Sicilian in which American GM Hans Niemann came out on top. He played quite well in Sharjah, ending up with 5½/9 and defeating 2700 rated Bassem Amin in the fourth round!
GM Salem A.R. Saleh is the only Arab GM who is currently an active player, and quite a strong one at that, with a 2679 rating. He started with 3½/4, and looked very strong throughout the event, eventually finishing among the first-place quartet. His third and fourth round victories allowed the hometown favorite to jump into contention, and were very interesting, fighting struggles, worth deep study.
Round five was when the action really started heating up. As a spectator, each day from this moment on seemed to move by in the blink of an eye! With the top three boards drawing in relatively uneventful fashion, this allowed a number of players who had started slowly to make up some ground with a victory. GM Maghsoodloo showed why 2… Nf6 against the Sicilian has fallen out of fashion, and GM Arkadij Naiditsch was fortunate enough to deliver a classic smothered mate on the board!
Naiditsch got there after playing superbly against his GM opponent’s Petroff defense. One mistake in the opening gave black a difficult position, and from there he never really recovered. Naiditsch thus leaped into a tie for first with five others on 4/5. The Azerbaijani is a fierce attacker and enjoys messy, unbalanced positions, where neither side really knows what’s going on. In such situations, he is very good at navigating the quagmire, and will often outplay the opponent before their eyes! The only downside to this style is that each game requires a great expenditure of energy, and indeed, Naiditsch faltered around the end, finishing with a dismal two draws and two losses.
The sixth round saw a brief separation of the pack, as aforementioned Iranian GM Mohammed Amin Tabatabaei was the only winner amongst the top boards. This was to be a brief happening, as we shall soon see. In his game against GM Salem Saleh, white emerged from the opening bruised and battered, but still standing. When his opponent missed numerous strong continuations, Tabatabaei took the opportunity to grab a pawn, and the position soon became irrationally complex. The advantage quickly swung his way, and despite mutual errors later on, with little time for both sides, Tabatabaei’s hand was the steadier one, and he came out on top. A critical win that set the tone for the rounds to come!
In the same round, experienced Ukrainian GM Pavel Eljanov won his game, using an interesting positional pawn sacrifice to outplay his opponent. This allowed him to catch up with the other four players on 4½/6 and join the chasing pack. And so, fate had it that Eljanov would face Tabatabaei in a battle that certainly helped decide the winner of the tournament. The Ukrainian came out on top, as a powerful intermediate move deciding the game, at least in a practical sense. With two rounds left to go, Eljanov shared the lead with Indian GM S.L. Narayanan, who outplayed his opponent from start to finish.
The eighth round saw the top few boards taking a breather, which allowed GM Tabatabaei to bounce back nicely with a win and catch up to the leaders! He defeated Naiditsch in a 4. d3 Berlin, where he maneuvered his pieces more effectively and gained a large positional edge on the queenside. Most important was the fact that black did not have any counter play, and when Naiditsch missed his one chance to break out of the bind Tabatabaei pounced, winning with a direct attack against the opponent’s king. Maghsoodloo was one of the other victors, which allowed him to stay half a point behind the pace and retain chances to tie for first in the event of a last round win.
The final round of play saw a typically tense conflict among the top boards. The whole tournament was still up for grabs, and there was certainly no lack of fighting spirit. Eljanov and Tabatabaei, two of the three leaders with 6/8, drew quickly, banking on the fact that S.L. Narayanan (the other leader) would have a tough time upsetting Parham Maghsoodloo with the black pieces. Indeed, after Narayanan went astray in the opening, Maghsoodloo converted his positional advantage with an enviable combination of great technique and perfect calculation, which allowed him to complete a fantastic comeback and tie for first.
The only remaining player with 5½/8 to emerge victorious was, fittingly, Arab GM Salem Saleh. His young Uzbekistani opponent GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov displayed fine preparation in a Hennig-Schara Gambit and achieved an arguably even position. However, situations with an Isolated Queen Pawn often need to be handled subtly, and when Abdusattorov sacrificed the weakness for active play, he failed to follow this bold move up accordingly.
We are in a day and age where one mistake can be enough to lose a game and, on this occasion, Saleh duly consolidated his pawn advantage, going on to nicely exploit a desperate try from his opponent. One of the most impressive displays of geometry in chess that I have seen in recent times outside of composed studies!
As GMs Maghsoodloo, Eljanov, Saleh, and Tabatabaei finished in a big tie for first, tiebreaks would decide who finished first among equals. The Buccholz score would decide who hoisted the trophy. Tabatabaei finished ahead of Eljanov by a slim half point. It is unfortunate to have to decide the winner in such a way, but nevertheless, a well-deserved victory for Tabatabaei!
Full final standings from the event can be found at this link. It is also worthy of mention that GM Ioannis Papaioannou and WGM Eva Repkova’s live commentary for each of the rounds was top-notch. You can find a library of those very instructive videos at the Sharjah Chess Youtube Channel. The organizers in Sharjah did everything right this year, and it gives us chess players hope to see such events proceeding successfully, especially with everything else going on in the world right now.
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