News
Carlsen Catches Nakamura In Qatar
Carlsen is now just half a point behind the leaders with three rounds to go. Photo: Keti Tsatsalashvili/Qatar Masters.

Carlsen Catches Nakamura In Qatar

Colin_McGourty
| 33 | Chess Event Coverage

World number-one Magnus Carlsen exploited a blunder by IM Samant Aditya S to win a third game in four rounds and catch GM Hikaru Nakamura, who was held to a draw by GM David Paravyan. With three rounds to go the favorites are half a point behind a four-player leading pack, after GM Narayanan Sunilduth Lyna drew and was caught by GMs Arjun Erigaisi, Javokhir Sindarov, and Nodirbek Yakubboev

Round seven starts on October 18 at 8:15 a.m. ET/14:15 CEST/5:45 p.m. IST.

How to watch?
You can watch the 2023 Qatar Masters on the Qatar Chess Association YouTube: YouTube.com/QatarChessqa and on Hikaru Nakamura's Kick channel: kick.com/gmhikaru. Games from the event can be viewed on our events page.

The live broadcast was hosted by IM Irine Sukandar, IM Jovanka Houska, and GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko.

Time is running out in Qatar, and with just three rounds to go after round six the pressure was on the top players who had suffered setbacks to win on demand and stay in contention for the top places. Many of them managed.

We saw bounce-back wins, with GM Gukesh Dommaraju inflicting a first loss of the event on his Indian countrywoman IM Vaishali Rameshbabu, who put up a great fight but missed some chances in time trouble. Number-three seed GM Anish Giri also hit back from a first loss to defeat Algerian GM Bilel Bellahcene in a game that felt like a total refutation of White's sacrifice of a piece for three pawns—an idea first seen in 1957, but computer-disapproved. The final position was memorable.

Fedoseev is back in business after winning his last four games. Photo: Valeria Kaidanov/Qatar Masters.

GM Vladimir Fedoseev has now won four games in a row after his shocking 0/2 start, but the most noteworthy player who's been playing catch-up in Qatar is the top seed, Carlsen. After a defeat and a great escape in his last two games with the black pieces he returned to the ever-reliable Ruy Lopez, and outfoxed his young opponent. Aditya was tempted to swap off queens and grab the a-pawn.  

Soon, however, there was no way to defend White's a-pawn, and Carlsen emerged with a clear advantage on the board and on the clock. The pressure told, since on move 38 White tried to play an intermezzo instead of simply taking a rook, which cost both the game and some excoriating words from Nakamura: "A horrible, horrible blunder and frankly just unbelievable. To not take the rook here is something no one above 1800 should ever miss."

Nakamura again recapped that game, before looking at his own draw against Paravyan. The U.S. star explained that the fact he very nearly blundered with 28.Ne5? (when 28...f5! would have left him in trouble) threw him off balance: "As soon as you miss a one-move tactic already in your mind you’re a little bit shaky." Nakamura then missed a chance for an advantage and had to settle for forcing a draw by perpetual check.


That meant that Carlsen had caught Nakamura on 4.5/6, but both players are well-placed for the tournament finale since they're just half a point off the lead.

Narayanan, the sole leader after round five, sparked concern when he failed to show up at the start of his game against GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov. After 15 minutes he would have forfeited, but instead he appeared after seven minutes and shrugged that off to make a comfortable draw—he had one chance to press for more, but going for wild complications while leading the event was hard to justify.

17-year-old Sindarov is among the leaders. Photo: Keti Tsatsalashvili/Qatar Masters.

That meant Narayanan could be caught, and he was—by three players. Sindarov won the battle of the 17-year-olds against GM Aditya Mittal; 21-year-old Yakubboev won another spectacular clash, this time against GM Rinat Jumabayev; and the highest-rated player to lead is 20-year-old Arjun, whose opponent's approach to the opening looked almost like a joke.

As GM Dejan Bojkov explains in his Game of the Day, however, there was method to the madness, and a fascinating struggle ensued.

Chess.com Game of the Day Dejan Bojkov

Afterward Arjun explained that his sacrifice of a piece for three pawns wasn't preparation, but was an idea he knew about in such positions.

In Wednesday's round seven the leaders will clash in Yakubboev-Arjun and Narayanan-Sindarov, while the top two seeds will face players who made a thrilling draw against each other in round six. Carlsen has White against two-time Indian Champion GM Karthikeyan Murali, while Nakamura is Black against GM Parham Maghsoodloo in what's set to be the first all-2700 clash of the tournament.

The standings look as follows with three rounds to go.

Qatar Masters | Standings After Round 6 (Top 40)

Rk. Seed No. Name Age Sex Gr FED Rating Points TB1 TB2
1 13 GM Narayanan.S.L, 2651 5 0 2870
2 12 GM Sindarov, Javokhir U20 2658 5 0 2835
3 6 GM Erigaisi, Arjun U20 2712 5 0 2816
4 19 GM Yakubboev, Nodirbek 2616 5 0 2776
5 2 GM Nakamura, Hikaru 2780 4.5 0 2743
6 23 GM Paravyan, David 2599 4.5 0 2710
7 7 GM Maghsoodloo, Parham 2707 4.5 0 2708
8 5 GM Abdusattorov, Nodirbek U20 2716 4.5 0 2695
9 20 GM Karthikeyan, Murali 2611 4.5 0 2689
10 1 GM Carlsen, Magnus 2839 4.5 0 2684
11 4 GM Gukesh, D U20 2758 4.5 0 2667
12 27 GM Pranav, V U20 2579 4.5 0 2596
13 75 IM Vaishali, Rameshbabu W 2448 4 0 2695
14 25 GM Jumabayev, Rinat 2585 4 0 2671
15 79 IM Srihari, L R U20 2438 4 0 2670
16 55 IM Ahmadzada, Ahmad U20 2494 4 0 2661
17 28 GM Vokhidov, Shamsiddin 2578 4 0 2659
18 30 GM Aditya, Mittal U20 2572 4 0 2657
19 43 GM Kevlishvili, Robby 2521 4 0 2656
20 16 GM Salem, A.R. Saleh Ar. 2632 4 0 2651
21 3 GM Giri, Anish 2760 4 0 2650
22 46 GM Pranesh, M U20 2515 4 0 2638
23 8 GM Van Foreest, Jorden 2707 4 0 2616
24 37 IM Makarian, Rudik U20 2548 4 0 2615
25 22 GM Vakhidov, Jakhongir 2607 4 0 2606
26 50 IM Prraneeth, Vuppala U20 2510 4 0 2602
27 31 GM Shimanov, Aleksandr 2566 4 0 2600
28 24 GM Sethuraman, S.P. 2598 4 0 2583
29 15 GM Aryan, Chopra 2634 4 0 2579
30 32 GM Karthik, Venkataraman 2563 4 0 2575
31 35 GM Kaidanov, Gregory 2554 4 0 2568
32 18 GM Puranik, Abhimanyu 2618 4 0 2562
33 11 GM Oparin, Grigoriy 2681 4 0 2561
34 26 GM Kuybokarov, Temur 2584 4 0 2557
35 40 GM Fawzy, Adham Ar. 2535 4 0 2556
36 45 GM Sankalp, Gupta U20 2518 4 0 2551
37 39 GM Visakh, N R 2547 4 0 2540
38 10 GM Fedoseev, Vladimir 2691 4 0 2526
39 36 GM Adhiban, B. 2551 4 0 2522
40 88 IM Zou, Chen 2418 3.5 0 2660

Full standings

Qatar Masters | All Games Round 6


The 2023 Qatar Masters is a nine-round open tournament for players rated 2300+. It takes place in Lusail, Qatar, on October 11-20 and boasts a $108,250 prize fund with $25,000 for first place, as well as a $5,000 prize for the top female player.


Previous Coverage:

Colin_McGourty
Colin McGourty

Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.

More from Colin_McGourty
Deadlock Continues As Gukesh Fails To Press Ding In Game 9

Deadlock Continues As Gukesh Fails To Press Ding In Game 9

Gukesh, Ding Both Miss Wins In Crazy Game 8 Draw

Gukesh, Ding Both Miss Wins In Crazy Game 8 Draw