8th Sharjah Masters R1: Nodirbek Abdusattorov survives a scare against Sethuraman

by Shahid Ahmed - 18/05/2025

GM Sethuraman S P had a great opportunity to beat the top seed, GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the first round of 8th Sharjah Masters 2025. However, Sethuraman missed his opportunity and allowed the World Rapid 2021 champion to escape with a draw. GM Aditya Mittal held GM Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI) to a solid draw. The total prize fund combining three categories is more than US$ 73000, for Masters A (>2500) it is US$ 58600. The top three prizes are US$ 15000, $10000 and $7000 each. Total 64 GMs and 17 IMs are taking part from 28 countries across the world with an average rating of 2557. Round 2 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Himank Ghosh

Aditya holds Parham to a draw

16 Indians are taking part out of the total 82 players in the Masters A (>2500) section. The total prize fund is more than US$ 73000, an increase of 12.3%. The total prize fund in Masters A is US$ 58600 which is an increase of 12.69%.

GM Sethuraman S P denied a winning start for the top seed, GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB)

Sethuraman - Abdusattorov: 0.5-0.5

GM Sethuraman S P (2552) played three Classical rated games against World Rapid 2021 champion, GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB, 2771). Sethuraman drew one and lost the remaining two. This time, he had a very good opportunity to score his first win against the 44th Olympiad Gold medalist.

Position after 24...e5

Black's position looks really bad. 24...e5 did not help his case 25.f5 Nf4 26.Bxf4 exf4 27.Ne2 g6 28.Qh6 gxf5 29.Nxf4 fxe4 30.Ne6 here White needed to play Bxe4 first before going Ne6. 30...Ng8 31.Nxc7? instead 31.Qh4 would have maintained some kind of pressure which was alleviated once the queens were traded 31...Nxh6 32.Nxa8 exd3 and Black managed to escape with a draw eventually.

Anish - Rinat

Position after 39.Kg2

GM Rinat Jumabayev (KAZ, 2551) made a one-move blunder 39...Re4?? 40.f6+- and it was over. 39...h4 would have kept the game going.

GM Rinat Jumabayev (KAZ) put up a good fight against GM Anish Giri (NED) until the former blundered at the end

GM Aditya Mittal - GM Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI): 0.5-0.5

Pichot - Visakh

Position after 45...Ra6

GM Alan Pichot (ESP, 2587) made the mistake of pushing his passed pawn 46.c7? Rc6-+ 47.c5 Bxc5 48.Nxf6+ Kg6 49.Nd5 Kf7 50.Kh2 Bxf2 51.Nb4 Rdc3 52.Nxc6 Rxc6 53.Rxf2 Rxc7 Black went on to win the rook endgame thanks to his passed pawn on a3.

GM Alan Pichot (ESP) - GM Visakh N R (pictured): 0-1

GM Emre Can (TUR) - IM S Rohith Krishna (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: IA Vivek Sohani

Inaugural first move

The tournament hall at Sharjah Chess Club

For more Inauguration Ceremony and Round 1 photos, please click at the respective links.

Opening Ceremony and Round 1 starting moments | Video: ChessBase India

Replay the Live stream

Replay Sharjah Masters Round 1 live commentary by GM Toms Kantans (LAT) & IM Irene Sukandar (INA) | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 1 Masters A games

Replay Round 1 Masters B games

Round 1 Masters A results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	42	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.	2552	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	2771	1
2	2	GM	Giri, Anish	2738	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Jumabayev, Rinat	2551	43
3	44	GM	Aditya, Mittal *)	2547	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	2706	3
4	4	GM	Sevian, Samuel	2694	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Woodward, Andy	2547	45
5	52	GM	Dai, Changren	2531	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Salem, A.R. Saleh *)	2631	11
6	46	GM	Vakhidov, Jakhongir	2546	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	2670	5
7	6	GM	Sargsyan, Shant	2666	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Raja, Rithvik R	2545	47
8	48	GM	Kuybokarov, Temur	2542	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Sargissian, Gabriel	2641	7
9	8	GM	Indjic, Aleksandar	2637	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Sychev, Klementy	2542	49
10	50	GM	Zhu, Jiner	2541	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son	2632	9
11	10	GM	Predke, Alexandr	2631	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Ferreira, Jorge Viterbo	2537	51
12	12	GM	Idani, Pouya	2630	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Lobanov, Sergei	2527	53
13	54	GM	Petkov, Momchil	2524	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Ivic, Velimir	2630	13
14	14	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	2630	0	½ - ½	0	IM	Samadov, Read	2521	55
15	56	GM	Madaminov, Mukhiddin	2520	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Xu, Xiangyu	2623	15

Details

Standings after Round 1

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.
1	2	GM	Giri, Anish	NED	2738	1
2	5	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	IRI	2670	1
3	6	GM	Sargsyan, Shant	ARM	2666	1
4	8	GM	Indjic, Aleksandar	SRB	2637	1
5	13	GM	Ivic, Velimir	SRB	2630	1
6	19	GM	Tin, Jingyao	SGP	2601	1
7	20	GM	Azarov, Sergei	FID	2596	1
8	21	GM	Paravyan, David	FID	2596	1
9	26	GM	Iniyan, Pa	IND	2573	1
10	31	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	IND	2565	1
11	33	GM	Akobian, Varuzhan	USA	2564	1
12	34	GM	Zemlyanskii, Ivan	RUS	2563	1
13	36	GM	Vetokhin, Savva	FID	2558	1
14	37	GM	Bharath, Subramaniyam H	IND	2556	1
15	38	GM	Grebnev, Aleksey	FID	2556	1

Details

Round 2 pairings

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	31	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	2565	1		1	GM	Giri, Anish	2738	2
2	5	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	2670	1		1	GM	Zemlyanskii, Ivan	2563	34
3	33	GM	Akobian, Varuzhan	2564	1		1	GM	Sargsyan, Shant	2666	6
4	37	GM	Bharath, Subramaniyam H	2556	1		1	GM	Indjic, Aleksandar	2637	8
5	11	GM	Salem, A.R. Saleh *)	2631	0		0	IM	Malek, Jan	2511	62
6	13	GM	Ivic, Velimir	2630	1		1	GM	Vetokhin, Savva	2558	36
7	19	GM	Tin, Jingyao	2601	1		1	GM	Grebnev, Aleksey	2556	38
8	59	GM	Nikitenko, Mihail	2516	1		1	GM	Azarov, Sergei	2596	20
9	21	GM	Paravyan, David	2596	1		1	GM	Dai, Changren	2531	52
10	63	GM	Visakh, N R	2507	1		1	GM	Iniyan, Pa	2573	26
11	69	IM	Mamedov, Edgar	2492	1		½	GM	Sevian, Samuel	2694	4
12	1	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	2771	½		½	GM	Aditya, Mittal *)	2547	44
13	3	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	2706	½		½	GM	Sethuraman, S.P.	2552	42
14	7	GM	Sargissian, Gabriel	2641	½		½	GM	Zhu, Jiner	2541	50
15	9	GM	Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son	2632	½		½	GM	Kuybokarov, Temur	2542	48

Details

Round 1 Masters B results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	72	WFM	Preobrazhenskaya, Diana	2103	0	1 - 0	0	IM	Ayush, Sharma	2478	1
2	2	GM	Prraneeth, Vuppala	2474	0	1 - 0	0		Nyazi, Nehad	2103	73
3	74		Xu, Ziyuan	2102	0	½ - ½	0	IM	Garifullina, Leya	2467	3
4	4	IM	Wang, Shixu B	2462	0	1 - 0	0	WIM	Vishwa, Vasnawala	2090	75
5	76	CM	Zhou, Yuxu	2087	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Levin, Evgeny A.	2453	5
6	6	FM	Mahdavi, Reza	2445	0	1 - 0	0	FM	Muhammed, Shuaau	2082	77
7	78	WFM	Imomkuzieva, Nilufarkhon	2080	0	½ - ½	0		Meng, Yihan	2443	7
8	8	IM	Harshavardhan, G B	2441	0	1 - 0	0	CM	Vandan, Alankar Sawai	2075	79
9	80		Mukund, Hemant Agarwal	2075	0	0 - 1	0		Jiang, Haochen	2439	9
10	10	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty	2436	0	1 - 0	0	AIM	Shashish, Subbiah	2068	81
11	82	CM	Alhejab, Meshal	2067	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	2435	11
12	36	GM	Ahmad, Al Khatib *)	2283	0	0 - 1	0		Aamuktha, Guntaka	1979	107
13	12	GM	Shyaam, Nikhil P	2430	0	1 - 0	0		Bhuvan, Krishna Prasanth	2060	83
14	84		Kaloust, Giorgio	2059	0	0 - 1	0	IM	Tarigan, Gilbert Elroy	2415	13
15	14		Zhang, Di	2410	0	1 - 0	0	CM	Mohamed, Saeed Laily	2058	85
16	86		Isfandiyarli, Kamal	2057	0	1 - 0	0	IM	Manon, Reja Neer	2403	15

Details

Standings after Round 1

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.
1	2	GM	Prraneeth, Vuppala	IND	2474	1
2	4	IM	Wang, Shixu B	CHN	2462	1
3	5	GM	Levin, Evgeny A.	RUS	2453	1
4	6	FM	Mahdavi, Reza	IRI	2445	1
5	8	IM	Harshavardhan, G B	IND	2441	1
6	9		Jiang, Haochen	CHN	2439	1
7	10	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty	IND	2436	1
8	11	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	RUS	2435	1
9	12	GM	Shyaam, Nikhil P	IND	2430	1
10	13	IM	Tarigan, Gilbert Elroy	INA	2415	1
11	14		Zhang, Di	CHN	2410	1
12	17		Gong, Sunle	CHN	2398	1
13	18	WGM	Beydullayeva, Govhar	AZE	2394	1
14	20	IM	Liyanage, Ranindu Dilshan	SRI	2387	1
15	21	IM	Poormosavi, Seyed Kian	IRI	2379	1

Details

Round 2 pairings

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	43	FM	Sakline Mostafa, Sajid	2234	1		1	GM	Prraneeth, Vuppala	2474	2
2	44	FM	Borisova, Ekaterina	2233	1		1	IM	Wang, Shixu B	2462	4
3	5	GM	Levin, Evgeny A.	2453	1		1	WIM	said, Hagawane	2188	52
4	45	IM	Sultan, Ibrahim	2222	1		1	FM	Mahdavi, Reza	2445	6
5	47		Vasilkov, Nikolay	2201	1		1	IM	Harshavardhan, G B	2441	8
6	9		Jiang, Haochen	2439	1		1	FM	Abuazizah, Raji	2182	54
7	49		Tabada, Jobannie C.	2197	1		1	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty	2436	10
8	11	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	2435	1		1	WIM	Dimitrova, Aleksandra	2176	56
9	53	CM	Assaad, Joe	2187	1		1	GM	Shyaam, Nikhil P	2430	12
10	13	IM	Tarigan, Gilbert Elroy	2415	1		1		Abdulkarimli, Eljan	2173	58
11	57	WFM	Arshiya, Das	2174	1		1		Zhang, Di	2410	14
12	111		Du, Yuxin	1973	0		0	GM	Ahmad, Al Khatib *)	2283	36
13	17		Gong, Sunle	2398	1		1	FM	Ayyad, Husain	2149	60
14	59		Anas, Khwaira	2173	1		1	WGM	Beydullayeva, Govhar	2394	18
15	63	WFM	Kalyani, Sirin	2136	1		1	IM	Liyanage, Ranindu Dilshan	2387	20

Details

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