Qatar Masters 2023 R1: Kushagra Mohan outplays Vladimir Fedoseev
Magnus Carlsen (NOR) and Hikaru Nakamura (USA) registered comfortable wins in the first round of Qatar Masters 2023. Anish Giri (NED) stumbled his way towards victory against IM S Rohith Krishna. The teenager missed a good chance to salvage a half point. IM Kushagra Mohan scored a huge upset against GM Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO). The 18-year-old outplayed the Slovenia no.1. IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh got himself very close to score the biggest upset of the round. However, he missed his chance against the Word no.8 and India no.1 GM D Gukesh. The game ended in a draw. Round 2 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Aditya Sur Roy
Nubairshah misses a great opportunity against Gukesh
Apart from Kushagra, three more Indians beat GMs in the first round. IM Ameya Audi, FM Gaurang Bagwe and CM Mayank Chakraborty defeated GM Lalit Rohit, GM Bilel Bellahcene (ALG) and GM Akshat Chandra (USA) each respectively.
Giri - Rohith: 1-0
A mistake in the double rook and knight endgame, brought IM S Rohith Krishna (2434) to a lost position against GM Anish Giri (NED, 2760). However, the world no.7 stumbled his way on to the finish line.
Black's last resort is his kingside passed pawns. The human instinct would be to play 40.Rh1? which is what was played. That allowed Black to get back in the game. 40...g4 41.Rxh2 g3 42.Rh4 f5 43.Rh5 Kf7 44.Kc2 Rf2+ 45.Kd3 and now Black needed to go g2 to salvage a half point. Instead, he played 45...Rf3+?? and the final window of opportunity was gone. White could have avoided all this if he played 40.d6 which is a computer line, something not easy for human to find.
Nubairshah - Gukesh: 0.5-0.5
IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh (2432) in his first-ever Classical rated game against GM D Gukesh (2758) got himself a great opportunity to topple the World no.8 and India no.1.
Which pawn should White take first - d5 or f5? It is not an easy decision. 49.Bxf5 Qxe5 50.Rh5 would have been winning for White. Even 49.Qxd5+ Qe6 50.Qxe6+ Nxe6 51.Bxf5 is also winning for White. However, since the queens are off the board, White would require more finesse to convert his advantage into a full point. Unfortunately for him, he could not manage to find it and the game ended in a draw.
Kushagra - Fedoseev: 1-0
IM Kushagra Mohan (2412) was facing GM Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO, 2691) for the first time in a Classical rated game. He made the most out of his opportunities.
Fedoseev made an incorrect retreat of his 26...Qb6? Instead, 26...Qf4 trading the queens would have been a better practical choice. 27.Bc4 Nd8 28.Nd5 Nxd5 29.Bxd5 Rgh8 30.Qxg7 White got a firm grip on the position. Kushagra converted his positional advantage beautifully into a full point without giving his opponent an ounce of chance.
Ameya - Lalit
GM Lalit Rohit (2547) made an incorrect retreat 21...Bd7? It allowed White to gain the upper hand 22.e5 Ng4 23.Re4 dxe5 24.dxe5 Bf5 25.Rd4 Ng5 26.Nxg5 Qxg5 27.Nf3 Qh6 28.h3 Nxe5 29.Nxe5 Bxh3+ 30.Kg1 Bxf1 31.Bxf7+ Kh8 32.Rh4 is a nice finish.
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Schedule
There are one round every day from 11th to 20th October 2023 starting from 3 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Monday 16th October 2023 is a rest day. Only last round on 20th October starts at 12 p.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. IST.
Time control
Time control for each tournament game is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.
Prizes
The total prize fund of the tournament is US$ 108250. The top three prizes are $25000, $15000 and $10000 each.
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Round 1 results
Standings after Round 1
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | ||
| 1 | 1 | GM | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2839 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||
| 2 | 2 | GM | Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2780 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |||
| 3 | 3 | GM | Giri, Anish | NED | 2760 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |||
| 4 | 5 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | U20 | UZB | 2716 | 1 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 5 | 6 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | U20 | IND | 2712 | 1 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 6 | 7 | GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham | IRI | 2707 | 1 | 7 | 0 | |||
| 7 | 8 | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | NED | 2707 | 1 | 8 | 0 | |||
| 8 | 12 | GM | Sindarov, Javokhir | U18 | UZB | 2658 | 1 | 12 | 0 | ||
| 9 | 13 | GM | Narayanan.S.L, | IND | 2651 | 1 | 13 | 0 | |||
| 10 | 16 | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | UAE | 2632 | 1 | 16 | 0 | |||
| 11 | 17 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | U18 | IND | 2622 | 1 | 17 | 0 | ||
| 12 | 18 | GM | Puranik, Abhimanyu | IND | 2618 | 1 | 18 | 0 | |||
| 13 | 19 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | UZB | 2616 | 1 | 19 | 0 | |||
| 14 | 21 | GM | Gupta, Abhijeet | IND | 2609 | 1 | 21 | 0 | |||
| 15 | 22 | GM | Vakhidov, Jakhongir | UZB | 2607 | 1 | 22 | 0 |
Round 2 pairings
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