Abhijeet stays on top despite draw with Salem Saleh at the 5th Sharjah Masters Chess Championship 2022

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Indian Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta’s four-game winning streak came to an end with a 26-move draw with UAE’s top player, Salem Abdul Rahman Saleh, in the 5th round of the Sharjah Masters International Chess Championship 2022 in Sharjah on Wednesday.

Hosted by the Sharjah Cultural & Chess Club, the championship is being held under the patronage of His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Muhammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah.

Despite the draw, Abhijeet (4.5 points) kept his half-a-point after the second board encounter involving sixth seeded Romanian Bogdan Daniel Deac and Turkey’s Mustafa Yilmaz (4 points each) ended in a draw. Salem Saleh is sitting on four points from five rounds after securing three wins and two draws.

Iranian Grandmaster Seyyed Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei, who won the Sharjah Masters International Chess Championship in 2021, earned a crucial victory at the fifth table in his meeting with the great Spanish Grandmaster Daniil Aleksandrovich Yuffa.

Uzbek chess prodigy Javokhir Sindarov, who is the second-youngest grandmaster in the game’s history, lost to Armenia’s Manuel Petrosyan.

Earlier, Humaid Ali Al Abbar Al Shamsi, member of the Federal National Council and advisor to the Real Estate Registration Department, opened the fifth round of the 5th Sharjah Masters International Chess Championship 2022.

Top Grandmasters and International Masters representing 48 countries are competing in the championship, which carries $60,000 in prize money.

The opening ceremony was attended by Omran Abdullah Al Nuaimi, Vice President of the club; Muhammad Al Hammadi, Director of the Government Communication Department of the Sharjah Sports Council, Omar Noman Al Ali, Director of the Tournament; Jeroen Vanden Berg, Director of the Steel Netherlands Tata Steel International Championship, Ihsan Turdialiev, Vice President of the Uzbek Chess Federation and; and a large number of fans.

Abbar praised the role of the Sharjah Masters Championship in deepening relationships between participants due to the brotherly atmosphere and sportsmanship, and thanked the tournament's Supreme Organising Committee, led by Sheikh Saud Bin Abdul Aziz Almualla, and all of its employees.

Fast Contracting Company, National Paints, and Centro Sharjah Hotel are the sponsors of the 5th edition of the Sharjah Masters International Chess Championship 2022.