28th Abu Dhabi Masters 2022 R5: Ray Robson emerges sole leader
GM Ray Robson (USA) scored the sole win among the pack to emerge sole leader 4.5/5 at 28th Abu Dhabi Masters 2022. It was the sole decisive game among the top ten boards. GM Nihal Sarin defeated IM Artur Davtyan (ARM) to join the remaining pursuers at 4/5 each. Arjun Erigaisi and Raunak Sadhwani drew with Netherlands no.2 Jorden van Foreest and Egypt no.1 Bassem Amin respectively. Sandipan Chanda had a great opportunity in the endgame to beat the super solid Aryan Chopra. Olympiad Gold medalist, GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov's tough form continues as he made a narrow escape against IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete. Today is a rest day for the Classical tournament. Round 6 starts tomorrow Monday 22nd August at 5 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. The eleven round Blitz Open tournament starts today at the same time. Photo: Rupali Mullick
Arjun Erigaisi, Raunak and Nihal in pursuit
Reigning Asian Junior champion, IM Raahul V S made a short work of GM Evgeny Zanan (ISR) in 25 moves. The latter went terribly wrong in a sharp position. The MPL 31st National Under-18 Open champion, CM Soham Kamotra continues his unbeaten run. He drew with the GM-elect, IM Aditya Mittal. WIM Rucha Pujari drew with the fan-favorite popular streamer, IM Eric Rosen (USA).
Nihal - Artur Davtyan: 1-0
Rook and opposite color bishop endgames are not easy to play. IM Artur Davtyan (ARM, 2520) decided to create a connected passed pawn on the kingside, Little did he know that GM Nihal Sarin's (2651) isolated passed pawn will be the decisive one.
The rook slide from b5 to h5, turns out it put Black on a slippery slope. 46...Rh5 47.Rd6 forks the pawns Bf7 48.Rxa6 +- Rh4 49.Ra7 improving the rook's position before pushing the b-pawn Kg8 50.b4 Rh5 does no good 51.Rb7 Rh3 52.b5 Bh5 53.Rxg7+ and the position is beyond the point of any return for Black.
Sammed - Vokhidov: 0.5-0.5
IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete (2381) is in great form. GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (UZB, 2552) made another narrow escape. This time he avoided a mate in six!
Vokhidov is having all the luck on his side as he is surviving completely lost positions. Most importantly, he is showing some poor defensive skills in this event which lands him in grave danger on multiple occasions. Sammed had some more chances later to seize his decisive advantage, yet none was bigger than the above position. White to play and mate in six. The checkmate threat is unavoidable, no matter how many pieces Black decides to give up.
Raahul - Zanan: 1-0
Reigning Asian Junior champion, IM Raahul V S (2323) got a substantial advantage in a sharp position against GM Evgeny Zanan (ISR, 2510).
The position was lost for Black anyway. 22...Qh3 just accelerated things. 23.Rg1+! Nxg1 24.Qd5+ Kh8 25.Qd4+ and Black resigned. 24...Rf7 would have led to 25.Qg5+ Kh8 26.Qd8+.
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A total of 148 players including 43 GMs, 35 IMs, 7 WGMs and 3 WIMs are taking part from 31 countries across the world including India. The tournament is being organized by Abu Dhabi Chess Club & Mind Games from 17th to 25th August 2022 at Abu Dhabi, UAE. The nine-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.
