Draw enables Maghsoodloo to win Sharjah Masters Chess title
sharjah — Seventeen-year-old Grandmaster Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran forced a draw with Yuriy Kryvoruchko of Ukraine in the final round to win with an amazing eight points out of nine rounds in the second Sharjah Masters Chess Championship at the Sharjah Chess Club which concluded on Thursday.
The teenage reigning Iranian champion used the Two Knights game and sacrificed a Bishop on the 23rd move to open lines to the White King.
The Ukrainian champion, second seeded in the tournament, countered with a Knight sacrifice to break through the centre. After a flurry of exchanges, Maghsoodloo seized the half point by a forced repetition of position to draw on the 34th move and ensure his trophy.
Maghsoodloo won the top prize of $15,000. Tied for second slot at 7 points each are defending champion Wang Hao of China and Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan who drew with each other in 31 moves of a Ruy Lopez game.
Wang’s only loss was to Maghsoodloo at the halfway 5th round.
Sharing the total $57,000 prize fund in 4th to 12th places with 6.5 points each are GMs Kryvoruchko, S.P Sethuraman and B. Adhiban of India, Vladislav Artemiev and Ernesto Inarkiev of Russia, Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli of Venezuela, Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine, Arkadij Naidtsch of Azerbaijan and Ahmed Adly of Egypt.
Rinat Jumabayev of Kazakhstan and Sandro Mareco of Argentina also tied with 6.5 points but lost on the tie-break to be out of the money prizes.
Most of the leaders drew with each other in the final round but in the decisive games Iturrizaga used the Queen’s Fianchetto defence to checkmate Manuel Petrosyan of Armenia in a marathon 93 moves while Jumabayev used the Queen’s Gambit Declined to beat IM Amin Tabatabaei of Iran in 52 moves.