GM Arjun Erigaisi gained the Sharjah Masters Worldwide Chess Championship 2023 on Thursday after successful his final-round sport towards GM Nodirbek Yakubboev.
Eight gamers had been tied on 5.5/8 heading into the ultimate spherical and solely Arjun was capable of win and safe himself $10,000 for first place, whereas GMs Sam Sevian and Gukesh D obtained $8,000 and $7,000 for second and third.
The sixth version of the occasion, which happened on the Sharjah Cultural and Chess Membership, was touted because the strongest worldwide open match within the historical past of the sport and boasted a area of 78 grandmasters from 31 federations, together with a mean score of 2618.
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🚨 BREAKING: 🇮🇳 GM Arjun Erigaisi clinched the 2023 Sharjah Masters occasion in type with 6.5/9! 🏆
💪 After dropping the fourth spherical, he bounced again strongly with 4.5/5.
🥇 Congratulations to Arjun, his sponsor Quantbox, his coach @srinathchess and his household 👏🏻👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/SI3c594fTN
— Chess.com – India (@chesscom_in) Could 25, 2023
The match itself happened in one of many largest chess facilities on Earth, which based on its web site, boasts a flooring area of 34,000 cubic toes. The occasion was break up into three divisions: The Masters, The Challengers, and The Futures.
After three rounds, not a single participant remained on an ideal rating, and solely 4 gamers had managed to garner 2.5/3 factors; GMs Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Amin Tabatabaei, Nihal Sarin, and Ju Wenjun. The ladies’s world champion’s run to 2.5 included a surprising upset with Black over the match’s third seed, GM Vidit Gujrathi.
When requested about her plans main as much as her girls’s world championship title match in Chongqing and Shangai in July, Ju Wenjun stated: “I may even play the Chinese language league in June after which it is vitally near the match.”
Two rounds later, a brand new chief emerged on 4/5, GM Haik Martirosyan, who lately gained the bronze medal on the FIDE World Blitz Championship in December 2022.
In an occasion filled with so many high GMs, streaks are far much less frequent than in novice tournaments, which made his trio of wins in rounds three, 4, and 5 over GMs Velimir Ivic, Christopher Yoo, and Ju Wenjun, respectively, all of the extra spectacular.
The second seed GM Gukesh D put a cease to Martirosyan’s streak in spherical six and stored his place on board one for the rest of the match, however attracts within the last three rounds stopped him from claiming the title.
The eventual winner Arjun suffered an early setback within the match, falling to his countryman GM Aryan Chopra however bounced again in emphatic type, happening to attain 4.5/5 to complete the match. In his usually tactical type that he has harnessed in on-line chess over the previous years, one in every of Arjun’s most interesting conversions got here in spherical seven towards GM Hipolito Asis Gargatagli.
Heading into the ultimate spherical, an eight-way tie for first left many gamers with probabilities to win the match, nonetheless, with a tiebreak system in place to find out the placegetters, there was loads of incentive to play for a win. So far as tiebreaks had been trying, Sevian and Yangyi had been the frontrunners had all the outcomes completed drawn on the highest boards.
As brief attracts cropped up round him, Arjun was the lone participant to interrupt the mould and he defeated Yakubboev in simply 27 strikes, icing the sport with a robust bishop sacrifice.
Arjun acknowledged after his victory: “Not too long ago I would been having tough tournaments all over the place, so I hoped to do effectively right here…” in addition to saying: “To win such a robust match feels good.”
The Indian GM additionally talked about that there was no time for relaxation and that he could be backing up this match with a displaying on the Dubai Open with only a two-day hole, beginning on Saturday, Could 27.
In indicators of the nation’s rising chess dominance, seven of the highest 20 finishers hailed from India and so they now have 5 gamers rated over 2700. To place this in perspective, Russia additionally has 5 gamers on this class. With a number of Indian prodigies on the cusp of cracking the barrier for the primary time, India may quickly have essentially the most 2700s of any nation on the earth.
Standings – High 20
| Rank | Fed | Title | Title | Ranking | Rating |
| 1 | GM | Arjun Erigaisi | 2701 | 6.5 | |
| 2 | GM | Sam Sevian | 2684 | 6 | |
| 3 | GM | Gukesh D. | 2732 | 6 | |
| 4 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2729 | 6 | |
| 5 | GM | Haik Martirosyan | 2675 | 6 | |
| 6 | GM | Hans Niemann | 2708 | 6 | |
| 7 | GM | Amin Tabatabaei | 2677 | 6 | |
| 8 | GM | Grigoriy Oparin | 2667 | 6 | |
| 9 | GM | Nihal Sarin | 2673 | 5.5 | |
| 10 | GM | Thai Dai Van Nguyen | 2645 | 5.5 | |
| 11 | GM | Nodirbek Yakubboev | 2630 | 5.5 | |
| 12 | GM | Ivan Cheparinov | 2660 | 5.5 | |
| 13 | GM | S.L. Narayanan | 2660 | 5.5 | |
| 14 | GM | Sanan Sjugirov | 2712 | 5.5 | |
| 15 | GM | Praggnanandhaa | 2688 | 5.5 | |
| 16 | GM | Andrey Esipenko | 2679 | 5.5 | |
| 17 | GM | Daniel Darha | 2631 | 5.5 | |
| 18 | GM | B. Adhiban | 2589 | 5.5 | |
| 19 | GM | Aryan Chopra | 2617 | 5 | |
| 20 | GM | Shant Sargsyan | 2630 | 5 |
(Full last standings right here.)
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The Sharjah Masters 2023 happened Could 17-25, 2023, within the Sharjah Cultural & Chess Membership, UAE. This sturdy, nine-round Swiss match featured high gamers together with GMs Parham Maghsoodloo, Gukesh D, Vidit Gujrathi, and Yu Yangyi. The time management was 90 minutes for your complete sport plus a 30-second increment beginning on transfer one and the Masters prize fund was $45,000.