Tribune News Network
Doha
India’s SL Narayanan played out a draw with Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov to share a point and the Qatar Masters Open 2023 lead with three others as the $120,000 chess championship resumed after a rest day at the Lusail Sports Hall on Tuesday.
GM Narayanan had defeated India No.1 and World No. 8 GM D Gukesh in the 5th round on Sunday to emerge sole leader. He now stays in joint lead with India’s Arjun Erigaisi and Uzbeks Javokhir Sindarov and Nodirbek Yakubboev in the standings with 5 points after the sixth round.
The four Grandmasters at the top have eight other competitors tailing them at 4.5 points and these include the World No.1 and five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway, American No.2 seed Hikaru Nakamura and top India star Dommaraju Gukesh.
The 25-year-old Narayanan, seeded 13th in the tournament, could have topped the standings with a win but the draw against the Uzbek fifth seed could only add a half a point to his tally – meaning he joined the leading pack of four.
Uzbekistan’s Sindarov defeated India’s Aditya Mithai, moving into the third place, while sixth-seeded Erigaisi secured a victory against Rudik Makarian.
Fourth seed Gukesh, meanwhile, handed his compatriot Rameshbabu Vaishali her first defeat in the tournament.
Vaishali, the sister of Praggnanandhaa who famously put the Norwegian star Carlsen to the test at the Chess World Cup earlier this year, yesterday managed to create great complications with the Black pieces, but she blundered due to severe time pressure.
Meanwhile, tournament favourite Carlsen continued his winning streak scoring over India’s Aditya Samanth, an International Master – seeded 48th. This victory pushed Carlsen up into the 9th spot in standings.
Nakamura, ranked third in the world, found himself in yet another draw, this time against David Paravyan who is competing under the International Chess Federation flag.
Following the victory, Nakamura re-confirmed that the competitions are getting more difficult as it reaches its final stages.
“I think things have not been settled yet, given the very little gap in points between the top 20 players in the standings. As for me, I faced very tough situations during the previous two games, and I will try to put in more effort so that I can increase my points tally,” he said.
“There is no easy match in the Qatar Masters and all games have equal chances between the participating players, especially since the tournament is one of the highest-ranked tournaments, which makes the task difficult for all participants without exception. Everyone saw what happened in the previous rounds,” Nakamura added.
Among other notable results, Dutchman Anish Giri, ranked seventh globally, emerged victorious over Algerian player Bilel Bellahcene, securing four points for himself and leaving his opponent at 3 points.
Qatar’s International Master Husain Aziz defied the odds by securing his second victory in the tournament. On Tuesday, Aziz triumphed over India’s Jaiveer Mahendru, ranked 107th in the tournament, as the home star climbed to the 87th spot in the standings.
