Some 164 top players are competing now in the FIDE Grand Swiss and the FIDE Women's Grand Swiss tournaments on the Isle of Man. The prize for the two top qualifying players in both 11-round events: a slot in the 2024 open and women's eight-player Candidates Tournaments that will identify the next challengers for the world chess titles.
Round 5 of the FIDE Grand Swiss saw Hikaru Nakamura and Arjun Erigaisi grabbing wins to join Andrey Esipenko in the lead of the open section. Nakamura obtained his third consecutive win after starting the event with two draws. The large chasing pack, now consisting of 16 players, now includes round-5 winners Sam Shankland, Nodirbek Yakubboev and Radoslaw Wojtaszek. Meanwhile, in the women’s tournament, Bibisara Assaubayeva beat Tan Zhongyi to become the first sole leader of the event. | Photo: Anna Shtourman
A sole leader emerged for the first time in the open section of the Grand Swiss, as Andrey Esipenko beat Marc’Andria Maurizzi to become the only player to reach a 3½/4 score. A 17-player chasing pack stands a half point behind, with Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja and Hans Niemann among those who joined this group by winning on Saturday. In the women’s section, Anna Muzychuk could not convert her advantage in the co-leaders’ clash with Tan Zhongyi. | Photo: Anna Shtourman
There are no more perfect scores in the open section of the Grand Swiss, as all seven co-leaders drew their games in round 3, allowing a trio of youngsters to join the lead i.e. Sam Sevian (pictured), Marc’Andria Maurizzi and Javokhir Sindarov. In the women’s section, on the other hand, two players did win their three first games to keep perfect scores after Friday’s round: Tan Zhongyi, who beat Antoaneta Stefanova, and Anna Muzychuk, who got the better of Irina Bulmaga. | Photo: Anna Shtourman
Uzbek grandmaster Nodirbek Yakubboev beat compatriot Nodirbek Abdusattorov in blitz tiebreaks to win the Qatar Masters in Doha. Yakubboev entered the tournament as the 19th seed, and obtained a round-9 victory over Karthikeyan Murali to reach the tiebreaks. Abdusattorov, on his part, defeated former sole leader Arjun Erigaisi in the final round of classical chess. Arjun made a very unfortunate blunder to lose the all-important encounter. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy