Yu Yangyi Wins Qatar Masters Open

Yu Yangyi Wins Qatar Masters Open
By Arvind Aaron

The first Qatar Masters Open concluded in a sensational triumph for Asia. Yu Yangyi of China who is a former world junior champion defeated Vladimir Kramnik to take clear first place at Doha on December 4, 2014. Anish Giri of Holland won and took second while Kramnik was third in this 154-player event for nine rounds.

Yu Yangyi played at a massive 2905 rating performance to win this event and take home USD 25.000. He also pumped 21.10 Elo into his January 2015 rating numbers. He was one of the ten players who remained undefeated.

Kramnik, easily the recognisable name in this field rarely played in open events. He started quietly with two draws and then posted six wins in a row. Quietly, he also gained 7.8 Elo and played at 2829. He scored 2.5/4 against Asian opposition. Kramnik played the Ruy Lopez but lost pawns at regular intervals and Yu Yangyi was four pawns up when the big Russian resigned on move 33.

Overall, the 21 Indians took away 65.40 Elo from this contest. Who won and lost rating is listed below. Nine players lost rating while 12 of them gained. Sameer Kathmale was the biggest gainer taking home 34 Elo points. The two biggest losers of rating were Chanda and Ganguly. Significantly, Kidambi finished with three wins. In the middle, Adhiban won five in a row. Vijayalakshmi remained undefeated in the first two thirds of the contest.

Final placings: 1 GM Yu Yangyi (Chn) 7.5/9; 2-3. Anish Giri (Ned), V Kramnik (Rus) 7 each; 4-6. Sanan Sjugirov (Rus), Vasif Durarbayli (Aze), Zahar Efimenko (Ukr) 6.5 each; 7-24. Salem A.R. Saleh (UAE), Andrei Volokitin (Ukr), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra), Evgeny Tomashevsky (Rus), Samuel Shankland (USA), P Milos (Srb), Pavel Eljanov (Ukr), Ivan Ivanisevic (Srb), Bu Xiangzhi (Chn), Alexander Moiseenko (Ukr), Ding Liren (Chn), Eltaj Safarli (Aze), Sergei Movsesian (Arm), V Akopian (Arm), Ivan Salgado Lopez (Esp), Baadur Jobava (Geo), Andrey Vovk (Ukr), B Adhiban (Ind) 6 each.

Indian Scores, Placing, Start/Seed Name Points Elo Change

024 036 B Adhiban 6.0 -0.30
030 006 P Harikrishna 5.5 -4.0
042 107 Sundararajan Kidambi 5.5 +16.0
047 091 Debashis Das 5.0 +18.4
048 035 Abhijeet Gupta 5.0 +0.80
062 093 M Shyam Sundar 5.0 +8.80
072 103 M.S. Thejkumar 4.5 +16.30
076 106 Neelotpal Das 4.5 +13.40
083 066 G.N. Gopal 4.5 -10.70
091 085 Karthikeyan Murali 4.5 -5.90
095 092 Vr. Aravindh Chithambaram 4.0 +8.4
097 110 Shardul Gagare 4.0 +11.90
100 130 P Konguvel 4.0 +14.90
106 083 D Harika 4.0 -8.90
107 150 Sameer Kathmale 4.0 +34.00
109 102 Sayantan Das 4.0 -5.50
110 127 Mary Ann Gomes 4.0 +4.10
112 055 Sandipan Chanda 4.0 -24.50
116 132 S Vijayalakshmi 3.5 +14.20
120 050 Surya S Ganguly 3.5 -19.80
131 086 Ankit Rajpara 3.0 -16.20