IRAN’S number three player – GM M. Amin Tabatabaei – grabbed the solo leadership of the ongoing 4th Sharjah Masters in the emirate of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates after beating top Emirati player GM A.R. Saleh Salem in Round 6 action Sept. 22.
The 21-year-old Tabatabaei was helped when five of his Round 5 co-leaders were either held to draws or were beaten in Round 6. So now, his Round 6 victory gave Tabatabaei a total tally of five points and a half-point lead over GMs S.L. Narayanan, Arkadij Naiditsch, Mikheil Mchedlishvili, Rinat Jumabayev, and Pavel Eljanov, who each has 4½ points. A group of seven GMs led by 2nd seed Parham Maghsoodloo share 7th to 13th places with four points apiece. These include Salem, Jules Moussard, Nodirbek Yakubboev, Arjun Erigaisi, Neuris Delgado Ramirez, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
Meanwhile, the lone Filipino player in this strong event, IM Oliver Dimakiling, produced an impressive win over GM Vitaly Bernardskiy of Ukraine, up his tally to three points, and moved up to a share of 28th to 38th places.
Tabatabaei, M.A (2624)-
Salem, A.R. S (2679) [B12]
Sharjah (6.1) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Ne7 8.0-0 Nbc6 9.Bb5 a6 10.Bxc6+ bxc6 11.c4 Qd7 12.Na3 Bg6 13.Qa4 Nf5 14.Nxf5 Bxf5 15.Rfd1 Be7 16.Rac1 h5 17.h3 Rd8 18.Bb6 Rb8 19.Qxa6 0-0 20.cxd5 exd5 21.Be3 Rfc8 22.Qe2 Qb7 23.Qxh5 Bg6 24.Qg4 Qxb2 25.Nb1 c5 26.Nc3 d4 27.Nd5 Re8 28.Bf4 Bf8 29.e6 Rxe6 30.Bxb8 Qxb8 31.Re1 Rxe1+ 32.Rxe1 Qd8 33.Re5 Bd6 34.Re1 Bf8 35.Nf4 Bc2 36.Re5 Qb8 37.Rg5 d3 38.Ne6 Qb2 39.Nxf8 d2 40.Rd5 Qc1+ 41.Kh2 d1Q 42.Rxd1 Qxd1 43.Qxd1 Bxd1 44.Nd7 c4 45.Nc5 c3 46.Kg3 Kf8 47.Kf4 Be2 48.Ke3 Bf1 49.g3 Bxh3 50.Kd3 Ke7 51.Kxc3 Bg2 52.Kd4 Kd6 53.Ne4+ Kc6 54.Nc3 Kb6 55.Kc4 Ka5 56.Kc5 Bf3 57.a3 Bh5 58.f4 Bf3 59.Kd6 Kb6 60.Ke7 f6 61.Kf7 Kc5 62.Kxg7 f5 63.Kf6 Kc4 64.Na4 Kb5 65.Nb2 Be4 66.Nd1 1-0
Eljanov, P(2680)-
Ganguly, SS (2630) [E68]
Sharjah (6.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.Nc3 d6 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.0-0 e5 8.e4 exd4 9.Nxd4 Nc5 10.h3 Re8 11.Re1 Bd7 12.Bf4 h6 13.Rb1 a5 14.b3 a4 15.Kh2 axb3 16.axb3 h5 17.Qd2 Nh7 18.Be3 h4 19.g4 Ra3 20.f4 Bxd4 21.Qxd4 Nxb3 22.Qd3 Nc5 23.Qc2 Bc6 24.Bc1 Ra8 25.g5 f6 26.Nd5 Bxd5 27.cxd5 fxg5 28.e5 Qe7 29.Qxg6+ Qg7 30.Qxg7+ Kxg7 31.e6 gxf4 32.Bxf4 Nd3 33.Rf1 b6 34.Be3 Rf8 35.Rxf8 Rxf8 36.Bd4+ Kh6 37.Be3+ Ng5 38.Rf1 1-0
Abdusattorov, N (2648)-
Niemann, HM (2609) [A28]
Sharjah (6.9) 2021
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e4 Bb4 5.d3 d6 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Nd7 8.g3 Nc5 9.Nh4 Qf6 10.Bg2 Bg4 11.Qxg4 Nxd3+ 12.Kd2 Nxf2 13.Qf5 Qxf5 14.Nxf5 Nxh1 15.Nxg7+ Kf8 16.Nh5 Na5 17.Rb1 Nxg3 18.hxg3 Nxc4+ 19.Kd3 Nb6 20.Bh3 h6 21.Be3 Rb8 22.c4 c5 23.Rf1 Rg8 24.Bxh6+ Ke7 25.Ng7 f6 26.g4 Nd7 27.g5 b5 28.cxb5 Rxb5 29.Kc4 Rb6 30.g6 Ra6 31.Kb3 c4+ 32.Ka2 Nc5 33.Nf5+ Kd8 34.g7 Nxe4 35.Bg2 d5 36.Ne3 Nc3+ 37.Kb2 d4 38.Nd5 Nxd5 39.Bxd5 c3+ 40.Kc2 Rxg7 41.Bxg7 Ke7 42.Rb1 Kd6 43.Rb5 Ke7 44.Rb7+ Kd6 45.Bc4 1-0
Delgado Ramirez, N (2588)-
Martirosyan, Haik M. (2636) [C67]
Sharjah (6.10) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 0-0 9.Nc3 Ne8 10.Nd5 Bd6 11.Re2 c6 12.Ne3 Bc7 13.Nf5 d5 14.Ne7+ Kh8 15.Nxc8 Rxc8 16.d4 Nf6 17.Qd3 Qd7 18.Bd2 Ne4 19.Bb4 Bd6 20.Be1 f5 21.f3 Qf7 22.g3 c5 23.c3 c4 24.Qc2 Ng5 25.Bg2 Qh5 26.Re3 Qh6 27.Re2 Qh5 28.Re3 Nh3+ 29.Kf1 f4 30.g4 Qxg4 31.Re5 1-0
Bernadskiy, V (2611)-
Dimakiling, O (2409) [A50]
Sharjah (6.20) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 b6 3.Nc3 Bb7 4.Qc2 d6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.e4 e5 7.d5 c6 8.Be2 Be7 9.0-0 Rc8 10.Be3 0-0 11.Nd2 Re8 12.Rfd1 Nf8 13.f3 Ng6 14.Bf1 h5 15.Qa4 a6 16.dxc6 Rxc6 17.b4 Nd7 18.Nd5 Bg5 19.Bf2 Rc8 20.Qb3 Ngf8 21.c5 dxc5 22.Nc4 Re6 23.bxc5 Nxc5 24.Bxc5 Rxc5 25.Nf4 Qc7 26.Nxe6 Nxe6 27.a4 Nd4 28.Qb2 Rxc4 29.Bxc4 Qxc4 30.Qxb6 Bc8 31.Kh1 Kh7 32.Rab1 h4 33.Qb4 Qc2 34.Qb2 Qxa4 35.Qb8 Qe8 36.Rd3 h3 37.Rc3 hxg2+ 38.Kxg2 Bd7 39.Qxe8 Bxe8 40.Rb7 Nb5 41.Rc5 f6 42.Rb8 Bh5 43.Kf2 Nd4 44.Rc3 a5 45.Ra8 Bh4+ 46.Kg2 Be1 47.Rd3 Bb4 48.Kf2 g5 49.f4 gxf4 50.Rh3 Kg6 51.Rh8 Bd1 52.R3h6+ Kf7 53.R6h7+ Ke6 54.Re8+ Kd6 55.Rf7 Kc5 56.Rxf6 Nf3 57.Rd8 Be1+ 58.Kf1 Bb3 59.Rc8+ Kd4 60.Rb6 Bb4 61.Ke2 Kxe4 62.Rh6 Nd4+ 63.Kf2 Bd2 64.h4 Be3+ 65.Kf1 Bd1 66.Ke1 Be2 67.Rc3 f3 68.Rf6 a4 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rxc6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nd6/f6 2.R(x)d6#; 1…Kxc6 2.Bg2#; 1…Nc5/c3 2.R(x)c5#./PN
