Chess

Sharjah Masters: Abhijeet draws, retains half-point lead

Abhijeet Gupta’s four-win sequence ends with a 26-move draw with UAE’s Salem Saleh; three all-India encounters also end in draws.

Rakesh Rao Rakesh Rao
NEW DELHI 25 May, 2022 21:59 IST

FILE PHOTO: Abhijeet Gupta (right) has 4.5 points after five rounds.   -  Chessbase India

Rakesh Rao Rakesh Rao
NEW DELHI 25 May, 2022 21:59 IST

Abhijeet Gupta’s four-win sequence ended with a 26-move draw with UAE’s Salem Saleh in the fifth round of the Sharjah Masters chess tournament in Sharjah, on Wednesday.

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The result saw Abhijeet (4.5 points) keep his half-a-point after the second board encounter involving sixth seeded Romanian Bogdan Daniel Deac and Turkey’s Mustafa Yilmaz (4 each) ended in a draw. Aryan Chopra, Aravindh Chithambaram and Aditya Mittal were the only Indians to win while all three all-India encounters ended in draws.

This included the one involving S. L. Narayanan and B. Adhiban that lasted 106 moves.

The results (involving Indians) - fifth round
  • Salem Saleh (UAE, 4) drew with Abhijeet Gupta (4.5);
  • Ranuak Sadhwani (3) drew with Arjun Erigaisi (3);
  • S. L. Narayanan (3) drew with B. Adhiban (2.5);
  • D. Gukesh (3) drew with S. P. Sethuraman (2.5);
  • Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2.5) lost to Hans Moke Neimann (USA, 3.5);
  • Abhimanyu Puranik (3) drew with Jules Moussard (Fra, 3);
  • Aryan Chopra (3) bt Olga Badelka (FIDE, 2);
  • Nataliya Buksa (Ukr, 2) lost to Aravindh Chithambaram (3);
  • Ilyas Msellek (Mar, 2) drew with Nihal Sarin (2);
  • Sankalp Gupta (2) drew with Mert Erdogdu (Tur, 2);
  • Aditya Mittal (2.5) bt Meruert Kamalidenova (Kaz, 1.5).

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