Sharjah: Seventeen-year-old Grandmaster (GM) Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran beat GM Gawain Jones of England to maintain his lead with seven points after seven rounds in the homestretch of the second Sharjah Masters Chess Championship at Sharjah Chess Club on Tuesday.
Maghsoodloo, the reigning Iranian champion, used the Sicilian Defence to turn back the 30-year-old former British champion, and won the exchange on the 34th move, proceeding to weave a mating net with queen and rook to force a resignation on the 45th move.
GM S.P. Sethuraman of India, 25, beat Arkadij Naiditsch, 32, the former German champion who is now playing for Azerbaijan.
The Indian GM deployed the Guioco Piano and an exchange sacrifice on the 21st move. He then sacrificed a bishop and rook to threaten mate on the 33rd move.
Sethuraman is now second with six points in a tie with GM Eltaj Safarli, 25, the two-time Azerbaijani champion who beat International Master Oliver Dimarkiling in 33 moves.
Defending champion Wang Hao of China follows with 5.5 points together with GMs B. Abdhiban of India, Vladislav Artemiev and Ernest Inarkiev of Russia and Eljanov Pavel of the Ukraine.
Wang beat GM Tigran Petrosian of Armenia in 64 moves of a Guico Piano. Adhiban outplayed Amin Bassem, three-time African and two-time Arab champion, in 55 moves of a Ruy Lopez game.
Artemiev used the Colle System to beat Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli of Venezuela in 65 moves. Inarkiev beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in 45 moves of a Scotch Game. And Pavel used the Colle System to beat Ali Reza Firouza of Iran in 46 moves.
Eleven players are tied with five points each in the race for over $57,000 (Dh209,370) in cash prizes, with a top prize of $15,000.
The nine-round tournament from April 11-20 is held under the patronage of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah.
For results and standings, visit http://shjchessmasters.com/ and chess-results.com
