Sharjah Masters 2024

[Nick Burrows]

https://chess-results.com/tnr902564.asp ... =30&snr=88

Shreyas off to a great start with 2/3. Has a big fish next:

15 2 GM Maghsoodloo, Parham 2732 1½ 2 IM Royal, Shreyas 2463 88

[Nick Burrows]

A once in a lifetime finish by Salem - incredible!

[Event "7th Sharjah Masters 2024"] [Site "Sharjah UAE"] [Date "2024.05.16"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Vladimir Fedoseev"] [Black "AR Saleh Salem"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E60"] [PlyCount "60"] [EventDate "2024.05.14"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. h4 d6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Qc2 c5 6. d5 a6 7. e4 b5 8. cxb5 Bg7 9. bxa6 O-O 10. h5 Nxh5 11. g4 Nhf6 12. g5 Nh5 13. Be2 Bxa6 14. Bxh5 gxh5 15. f4 e6 16. Nge2 Qe8 17. dxe6 fxe6 18. Ng3 Ne5 19. fxe5 Bxe5 20. Qg2 Rb8 21. Nxh5 Qg6 22. Be3 d5 23. O-O-O d4 24. Rdg1 dxc3 25. b3 Bd3 26. Qh3 Rxb3 27. axb3 Ra8 28. Kd1 Qxh5+ 29. Qxh5 Ra1+ 30. Bc1 Rxc1+ 0-1

[NickFaulks]

But he took a quick draw with White on top board today, that's a shame.

[LawrenceCooper]

https://chess-results.com/tnr902564.asp ... =30&snr=88

Shreyas off to a great start with 2/3. Has a big fish next:

15 2 GM Maghsoodloo, Parham 2732 1½ 2 IM Royal, Shreyas 2463 88

A comfortable draw with black in 31 moves

[Matt Mackenzie]

A once in a lifetime finish by Salem - incredible!

[Event "7th Sharjah Masters 2024"] [Site "Sharjah UAE"] [Date "2024.05.16"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Vladimir Fedoseev"] [Black "AR Saleh Salem"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E60"] [PlyCount "60"] [EventDate "2024.05.14"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. h4 d6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Qc2 c5 6. d5 a6 7. e4 b5 8. cxb5 Bg7 9. bxa6 O-O 10. h5 Nxh5 11. g4 Nhf6 12. g5 Nh5 13. Be2 Bxa6 14. Bxh5 gxh5 15. f4 e6 16. Nge2 Qe8 17. dxe6 fxe6 18. Ng3 Ne5 19. fxe5 Bxe5 20. Qg2 Rb8 21. Nxh5 Qg6 22. Be3 d5 23. O-O-O d4 24. Rdg1 dxc3 25. b3 Bd3 26. Qh3 Rxb3 27. axb3 Ra8 28. Kd1 Qxh5+ 29. Qxh5 Ra1+ 30. Bc1 Rxc1+ 0-1

White really should have played that out to a finish IMO.

[Nick Burrows]

IM Royal, Shreyas 2463 2½ 2½ GM Nihal, Sarin 2680

[NickFaulks]

IM Royal, Shreyas 2463 2½ 2½ GM Nihal, Sarin 2680

Modern Benoni alert!

[Leonard Barden]

https://lichess.org/broadcast/sharjah-- ... t/KbY8FQvs

[NickFaulks]

https://lichess.org/broadcast/sharjah-- ... t/KbY8FQvs

Great game for Modern Benoni fans, not so much for Shreyas fans.

[NickFaulks]

But tenacious defence from Shreyas, in the end Sarin is happy to bail out into a draw. Very impressive play after White's opening went wrong.

[LawrenceCooper]

But tenacious defence from Shreyas, in the end Sarin is happy to bail out into a draw. Very impressive play after White's opening went wrong.

Agreed, it definitely seems like a saved half. The first half of the game looked worryingly like one way traffic.

[Leonard Barden]

Seems Nihal is no Mikhail.....

A GM norm for Shreyas, who is now on 3/5 in this super-strong open from his initial seeding of 88th in a field of 88, is in sight. Having met nobody lower than 2595 and after halving with 2734 and 2690 in the last two rounds, his current TPR is 2719.

A 4/9 norm, achievable with a 2643+ TPR, looks possible given that he is likely to meet 2600+ opponents in all or almost all the remaining four rounds.

[Mick Norris]

Shreyas is white again next against a 2629

[Leonard Barden]

Very impressive how Shreyas has blitzed out 21(!!) moves of prep in a 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 Bd2 Grunfeld and is already 45 minutes (!!) ahead on the clock. The evaluation bar is still showing 0.0, however.

https://lichess.org/broadcast/sharjah-- ... q/3m8TLeU9

Sharjah Open is looking a big break-through for Shreyas, who is staking a strong claim for a place in England's Olympiad team for Budapest, particularly if any of Vitiugov, Adams, Howell, Jones and McShane is unavailable.

[Leonard Barden]

Shreyas having his first real think at move 23(!) , now + 0.5. However, he has sacked a pawn and Stockfish's forecast continuation suggests that Black has neutralised the early pressure.