Tribune News Network
Doha
In what is said to be the biggest upset of 2023, the five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway on Thursday suffered a shock loss to Kazakh GM Alisher Suleymenov in the second round of the ongoing Qatar Masters Open 2023 Chess Championship at the Lusail Sports Hall.
It was a big reversal for the 32-year-old Carlsen, who was last defeated by a player rated below 2520 in the Norwegian Championship 2006 where he lost to Berge Ostenstad, who was rated 2480.
On Thursday, Carlsen playing with black pieces was again left frustrated as he fell into a trap with the 23-year-old Kazakh destroying him in 31 moves of Queen’s Indian defence.
But there was something that had disturbed Carlsen before the start of the game and the Norwegian took to platform ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) to express his mind. “I was completely crushed in my game today. This is not to accuse my opponent of anything, who played an amazing game and deserved to win, but honestly, as soon as I saw my opponent was wearing a watch early in the game, I lost my ability to concentrate,” Carlsen wrote.
He also said that the arbiter had told him that smart watches were banned but analog watches were allowed which Carlsen felt “to be against FIDE rules.”
Meanwhile, Suleymenov, who rose to 11th place in the overall standings, noted that the tournament is still in its early stages and it is difficult to talk about who will win but hoped to continue his good show.
GM Hikaru Nakamura of the US tops the list while GM Indian Anish is second in the nine-rounds Swiss System tournament (90 minutes for each round + 30 seconds for each move).
The day’s fascinating contests were attended by HE Hassan Al Thawadi, Secretary-General, Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, where he also made the first move on a board, along with Mohammed Al Mudahka, President of the Qatar Chess Association, Taryam Matar Taryam, President of the Emirates Chess Federation, and the general referee of the tournament, Fred Laurent, and a number of other officials of participating federations.
In the International ‘B’ Championship, Qatar’s IM Hussain Aziz, ranked 141st in the tournament, lost to German IM Rafael Lagunow, suffering his second loss.
Among the other results, Emirati GM Salem Abdul Rahman, ranked 14th in the tournament and one of the candidates to be crowned the best Arab player, overcame his India GM G.A. Stany, ranked 67th in the tournament, to occupy third place in the overall standings.
India’s GM Arjun Erigaisi, seeded sixth in the tournament, defeated Uzbek Abdul Ismailov Abdulmalik to top the overall standings, raising his score to two points, and the Dutchman Jorden van Forrest, seeded eighth in the tournament, tied with Chinese Yao Tong, seeded 63rd in the tournament.
Iran’s Seyed Khalil Mousavi, ranked 57th in the tournament, also tied with Uzbek Abdulstarov Noderbek.
Egyptian Adham Fawzi defeated Vietnamese Gia Tran, achieving his first victory in the tournament after tying in the opening match against Indian Cristiano Manish.
Tunisian Kamal Njili, ranked 87th in the tournament, defeated Indian Ojava Singh, while Moroccan Mohamed Tayseer, ranked 128th, lost.
Mohammed Al Mudahka, President, QCA, expressed his happiness with the atmosphere in the third edition’s competitions which has an elite group of the top-ranked players in the world, including 152 players holding international titles.
Al Mudahka pointed out that the organizing committee was keen to provide a distinguished version of the event, noting the great efforts of the Ministry of Sports and Youth.
He said: “We thank the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy for its presence in the tournament competitions, and for the gifts that were distributed to all the players as a positive initiative.
“The International B tournament is also witnessing the participation of many young players from the Qatari team, and the results were very positive.”
The Qatar Masters Open 2023 has 250 male and female players representing 45 countries, including 62 senior international professors representing 16 Arab countries, while India has the largest number of 76 players.
The total prize pool for the Qatar Masters International Open is $120,000.
