Qatar Masters 2023 R2: Alisher Suleymenov crushes Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen suffered a crushing defeat against Alisher Suleymenov in the second round of Qatar Masters 2023. The world no.1 tweeted that his opponent scored a crushin victory, he played an amazing game and deserved to win. He also mentioned that as soon as he saw his opponent wearing a watch early in the game, he lost his ability to concentrate. This was certainly the biggest upset of the event so far and perhaps of the year too. However, it was not the only upset of the round. FM Senthil Maran K handed GM Vladimir Fedoseev his second consecutive loss. IM Vaishali R defeated GM Sethuraman S P, exactly on the same day after her immortal win last year. Round 3 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Aditya Sur Roy
Vaishali beats Sethuraman exactly on the same day a year after her immortal win
The gap between 2400-2500 and 2600+ or say 2700+ is much less than what the number suggests. Why? Because top players only play amongst themselves. They rarely play any open tournament. Thus, their rating mostly stays the same and they are not in competition with players who are just hundreds of rating points behind them. The lower players be it CM, FM, IM and even GM, are not afraid of facing the top players. Why? They know, they have nothing to lose. A loss would be an obvious result. However, a draw or win could make the headlines and perhaps the moment/upset of the day. If anything, it is Magnus Carlsen who has shown that anyone can be beaten by the sheer willingness to win. He made a career out of grinding endgames which many players would like to take a draw and call it a day. FIDE World Cup 2023 was a great example that the gap is reduced. Those who read our reports, follow our pages and channels, are well aware of the fact that upsets are very common these days. Gone are the pre-computer days where Grandmasters rarely use to lose a game against someone who is not a GM.
Fact: Kazakhstan's latest GM Alisher Suleymenov was eliminated from the first round of FIDE World Cup 2023. The event was won by the World no.1 - GM Magnus Carlsen.
Suleymenov - Carlsen: 1-0
Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 2839) faced Kazakhstan's latest Alisher Suleymenov (2512) for the first time in a rated game. The World no.1 opted for Queen's Indian which transposed into a Sicilian like pawn structure soon.
17...Ne8? is the second consecutive strange and incorrect knight retreat by the FIDE World Cup 2023 winner. As he mentioned in a tweet, he lost his ability to concentrate and thus he played strange moves like 16...Ne7 followed by 17...Ne8. Suleymenov mentioned in the post-match interview that he did not even consider 17...Ne8. He was thinking about 17...Ng6 which is what the optimum reply is. After 18.Ng5 Ng6? is too late. 19.e5! d5? 20.Qb3+- White realized that he is the one in driver's seat now.
21.Nxf7! is the obvious move for White to take advantage of his position. 21...Kxf7 22.cxd5 Bxd5 23.Rxd5! exd5 24.Qxd5+ Kf8 25.Nd4 and White won the game in another half a dozen moves.
Magnus Carlsen made a few tweets after his loss
After the last tweet by Carlsen, GM Hikaru Nakamura (USA) promptly changed the title of his aforementioned video.
9.6 says - Players are asked not to bring mobile phones or any other electronic devices (even switched off) into the playing hall. Bringing any device to the playing hall will result in forfeit.
Sethuraman - Vaishali: 0-1
IM Vaishali R (2448) defeated GM Sethuraman S P (2598) exactly a year ago on 12th October 2022 at Fagernes Autumn GM 2022. It was certainly her immortal game. A year later, she faced Sethuraman again, only this time, the color was inversed.
White needed to let go of the d4-pawn. 23.Rf3 exd4 24.cxd4 Bxd4 25.Nf1 d5 would have been a much better continuation for White. Instead 23.Rd2? just invited trouble g4 24.hxg4 Qe7 25.Kg1 Qh4 26.Nh5 Nxg2! and Black went on to win the game eventually. The win took slightly longer due to Vaishali's imprecise play in time trouble. However, Sethuraman blundered again to give his opponent a decisive advantage. This time she ensured that her opponent cannot fight back.
Fedoseev - Senthil Maran
After 35.Nf4+ Ke7 36.Ng6+ Ke6 GM Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO, 2691) decided against repeating moves and taking a draw. He went 37.Rf4 h5 38.Rf8 a4 39.Nf4+ White decided to give up his f2-pawn for Black's h5. 39...Ke7 40.Rf5 Rxf2 41.Re1 Kd6 42.Rxh5 Nxe3 43.Rxe3 Rxf4 and Black went on to win the game after White made few inaccuracies.
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.
Replay live stream
Replay Round 2 games
Round 2 results
Standings after Round 2
Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | ||
1 | 2 | GM | Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2780 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |||
2 | 3 | GM | Giri, Anish | NED | 2760 | 2 | 3 | 0 | |||
3 | 6 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | U20 | IND | 2712 | 2 | 6 | 0 | ||
4 | 12 | GM | Sindarov, Javokhir | U18 | UZB | 2658 | 2 | 12 | 0 | ||
5 | 13 | GM | Narayanan.S.L, | IND | 2651 | 2 | 13 | 0 | |||
6 | 16 | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | UAE | 2632 | 2 | 16 | 0 | |||
7 | 19 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | UZB | 2616 | 2 | 19 | 0 | |||
8 | 22 | GM | Vakhidov, Jakhongir | UZB | 2607 | 2 | 22 | 0 | |||
9 | 25 | GM | Jumabayev, Rinat | KAZ | 2585 | 2 | 25 | 0 | |||
10 | 26 | GM | Kuybokarov, Temur | AUS | 2584 | 2 | 26 | 0 | |||
11 | 28 | GM | Vokhidov, Shamsiddin | UZB | 2578 | 2 | 28 | 0 | |||
12 | 30 | GM | Aditya, Mittal | U18 | IND | 2572 | 2 | 30 | 0 | ||
13 | 34 | GM | Rasulov, Vugar | AZE | 2560 | 2 | 34 | 0 | |||
14 | 35 | GM | Kaidanov, Gregory | USA | 2554 | 2 | 35 | 0 | |||
15 | 41 | GM | Yilmazyerli, Mert | TUR | 2533 | 2 | 41 | 0 |
Round 3 pairings
Links
Tournament Regulations: Open A and Open B
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