29th Abu Dhabi Masters 2023 R2: Sanket does a king march against Ahmad
Sanket Chakravarty scored a fine victory against IM Ahmad Ahmadzada (AZE) in Round 2 of 29th Abu Dhabi Masters 2023. The double rook endgame seemed to have headed towards a draw until Sanket decided to march his king down the board. His opponent provided little to no resistance which allowed the Indian to win the game. Currently, four Indians are at 2/2. They are - GM Aryan Chopra, IM Rathanvel V S, GM Raja Rithvik R and GM Sandipan Chanda. There are dozen more players who have made a perfect start. IM FT Harikrishnan A Ra and FM Ojasva Singh drew against GM Jakhongir Vakhidov (UZB) and GM Stany G A respectively. Round 3 starts today at 5 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Aditya Sur Roy
S L Narayanan and Swayams play an exciting game
CM Mayank Chakraborty defeated IM Chen Zou (CHN). Arhan Chethan Anand and Aditya Varun Gampa drew against IM Muthial Al and IM Hari Madhavan N B respectively.
S L Narayanan - Swayams
GM S L Narayanan (2656) sacrificed an exchange on e6. 12.Rxe6 fxe6 13.Qh5 g6 14.Bxg6 hxg6 15.Qxg6+ Kh8 the exposed black king definitely gives White an advantage. However, converting it practically into a full point was not easy. Computer recommends to take the e6-pawn with a check which is quite difficult for a human to play. The game eventually ended in a draw by repetition, when Black could have pushed for a win.
Sanket - Ahmad
Sanket Chakravarty's (2385) plan is simple. March the king down the board and use the rooks to deliver the checkmate which is what he did in the game against IM Ahmad Ahmadzada (AZE, 2519). Black needed to prevent the king's advances 33...h6 34.Kxh6 Re6+ 35.Kh5 Rf3 would have been fine. 33...Re2 34.Rg5+ Kf8 35.h4 Ree3 36.g4 Rab3 37.Kh6 f6 38.Rgg7 Re4 39.Kxh7 and it's over as the checkmate is unstoppable.
For more Round 2 photos, please click here.
Video Gallery
A total of 145 players including 41 GMs, 54 IMs, 6 WGMs and 3 WIMs are taking part from 22 countries across the world. The tournament is being organized by Abu Dhabi Chess Club & Mind Games from 16th to 24th August 2023 at Radisson Blu Hotel & Resort in Abu Dhabi Corniche Abu Dhabi, UAE. The nine-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.
Round 2 results
Standings after Round 2
Rk. | SNo | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |||
1 | 6 | Niemann, Hans Moke | USA | 2660 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
9 | Santos Latasa, Jaime | ESP | 2656 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
59 | Abdisalimov, Abdimalik | UZB | 2438 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
4 | 18 | Xu, Xiangyu | CHN | 2608 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1,5 | |
71 | Atakhan, Abtin | IRI | 2414 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1,5 | ||
6 | 1 | Artemiev, Vladislav | RUS | 2698 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1,5 | |
4 | Fedoseev, Vladimir | SLO | 2676 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1,5 | ||
11 | Aryan, Chopra | IND | 2641 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1,5 | ||
27 | Kobalia, Mikhail | FID | 2547 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1,5 | ||
33 | Suleymenov, Alisher | KAZ | 2509 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1,5 | ||
37 | Dai, Changren | CHN | 2499 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1,5 | ||
40 | Rathanvel, V S | IND | 2491 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1,5 | ||
43 | Madaminov, Mukhiddin | UZB | 2484 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1,5 | ||
14 | 14 | Murzin, Volodar | FID | 2631 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
35 | Raja, Rithvik R | IND | 2502 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | ||
16 | 39 | Chanda, Sandipan | IND | 2491 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0,5 | |
17 | 5 | Salem, A.R. Saleh | UAE | 2661 | 1,5 | 0 | 1 | 2,5 | |
53 | Swayams, Mishra | IND | 2452 | 1,5 | 0 | 1 | 2,5 | ||
19 | 7 | Sindarov, Javokhir | UZB | 2659 | 1,5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
17 | Vakhidov, Jakhongir | UZB | 2618 | 1,5 | 0 | 1 | 2 |