{"id":1115,"date":"2023-10-25T19:33:41","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T17:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skolasachu.com\/?p=1115"},"modified":"2023-11-03T20:13:07","modified_gmt":"2023-11-03T19:13:07","slug":"the-tragedy-of-arjun-erigaisi-at-the-qatar-masters-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skolasachu.com\/en\/tragedie-arjuna-erigaisiho-na-turnaji-katar-masters\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tragedy of Arjun Erigaisi at the Qatar Masters Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

I closely followed the major tournament in Qatar, which ended a few days ago. Many elite grandmasters participated, including former world champion Carlsen. I was particularly curious about his performance and \u2013 I must admit \u2013 as I fully expected, there was no sensation. The 16th world champion basically burned out and did not even try to find suitable excuses for his unusually poor play. (Nevertheless, it is perhaps necessary to mention that quite a few elite grandmasters expressed \u2013 euphemistically speaking \u2013 strong dissatisfaction bordering on ignoring the organisers regarding possible computer assistance. The case<\/em> of Vladimir Fedoseev and the first 2 rounds of the tournament is a topic for another article.)<\/p>\n

However, I am not writing this contribution because of various interviews with the greatest chess player of all time and countries<\/em>, as many less knowledgeable chess players still believe (having succumbed to the opinion that, for example, online blitz or bullet is as important a discipline as serious chess), but because of the huge sporting tragedy that took place in the last round!<\/p>\n

After the penultimate 8th round, the tournament table looked like this: ResultsList after 8<\/a><\/p>\n

The likeable current Indian number six, the twenty-year-old super-grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi, was leading with a half-point advantage, and in case of a draw he would at least share first place.<\/p>\n

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However, in the last round he still faced a very difficult opponent with the black pieces: former rapid world champion, the one-year younger Uzbek star (today not the only one) Nodirbek Abdusattorov! It is clear that the player with the white pieces, who was half a point behind, was only interested in a win and accordingly chose his opening. Against the Slav triangle 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6<\/strong> (the opponents reached the position by a different move order) Abdusattorov chose the Slav gambit 4.e4 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qxd4<\/strong><\/p>\n

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An expected fierce storm broke out on the board, but Black withstood everything and steered the game into an endgame in which it became increasingly clear that he would achieve his goal.<\/p>\n

Well, now let us see what happened:<\/p>\n