World number-one Magnus Carlsen won a 23-move miniature as he set out to defend his title in the 2023 Qatar Masters, a tournament last held in 2015. GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Anish Giri were among the star names to win in round one, but GMs Gukesh Dommaraju and Nihal Sarin had to fight for draws, while GM Vladimir Fedoseev was put to the sword by 19-year-old Indian IM Kushagra Mohan.

Round two starts on October 12 at 8 a.m. ET/14:00 CEST/5:30 p.m. IST.

The 2023 Qatar Masters is the third edition of a trendsetting chess open that we first saw almost a decade ago. Let’s take a quick look back at the history.

The 2014 And 2015 Qatar Masters

The chess world has long been divided between a rich elite and a mass of players struggling to make ends meet. To get to the elite you need talent, sometimes a little luck, and above all to perform well in “open tournaments,” which, as the name suggests, are events which are more or less open to everyone willing to pay an entry fee and their own expenses. 

As soon as top young players could, they’d stop playing open events for modest and hard-to-win prizes and instead compete in small all-play-all tournaments against their elite colleagues, where even relative failure would be financially rewarded. The drawback of such events for chess fans, however, is that we quickly become familiar with all the top players and sometimes tire of seeing them compete against each other week after week.

That led, in the last decade, to a new trend to hold open tournaments, but to make them attractive to the world’s very best players with hefty top prizes and appearance fees. The Qatar Masters, along with similar events held in Gibraltar and on the Isle of Man, was a trailblazer with its first edition in 2014.

Chinese GM Yu Yangyi, at the time just 20 years old, was the surprise winner, after taking down former World Champion GM Vladimir Kramnik in the final round. Kramnik tied with Giri for second, half a point behind.

A year later, and World Champion Carlsen had joined the fray. He duly won, but needed a playoff against Yu, who had defeated GM Wesley So on demand in the final round, while Kramnik again took third place. Among the participants that year were future GMs 12-year-old Alireza Firouzja and 11-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov. 

“In ten years from now you will see this boy in the very top”, said Adrian Mikhalchishin. https://t.co/VKDIKNmA5F

— Lladini (@lladini) December 30, 2015

Sadly that was the last Qatar Masters, until now, although the organisational effort in 2016 went into holding the World Rapid and Blitz Championships in Doha. Carlsen said of that event, when interviewed after round one: “I tied for first in both rapid and blitz, but I only got bronze and silver on tiebreaks. I still have something to prove!”

The 2023 Qatar Masters

Probably the best chess view! pic.twitter.com/xxTFjQ7yE2

— Mohamed Al-Mudahka (@almodiahki) October 11, 2023

160 players are competing in the top group over nine rounds of classical chess, for $108,250 in prizes. The top prize is $25,000.

There are also other prizes on offer, including $5,000 for the top female player.

The line-up is formidable, including eight 2700+ rated players, and Carlsen, Nakamura, Giri, and Gukesh from the world top-10.

Round 1

For round one, the rating list was cut in two, so that number-one ranked Carlsen played number 79, 17-year-old Indian IM L R Srihari, number-two ranked Nakamura played number 80, 21-year-old Indian IM Vantika Agrawal, and so on. That meant there were heavy favorites on all the top boards, and many stars did grab the expected wins. For instance, Carlsen shrugged off a late arrival in Qatar to beat Srihari in just 23 moves. He claimed to have made a very late choice of what to play:

Interview with World Champion @MagnusCarlsen at Qatar Masters Open 2023 🏆♟️#qatarmasters2023 pic.twitter.com/Lf65WpE4Jf

— Qatar Chess (@QatarChess) October 11, 2023

Carlsen said he was surprised in the opening, but then things swung his way, since his opponent, “chose a very concrete approach later, going for some material, which was flawed, because he had no pieces protecting his king and then it was a fairly pleasant job attacking after that.”

The former world champion got to offer multiple piece sacrifices, including a choice of rooks.

Magnus is offering his young opponent a choice of rooks, but in either case Black seems to be doomed! https://t.co/pVjXV6tRdJ #QatarMasters2023 pic.twitter.com/rZGNFkow2O

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 11, 2023

The sparkling 23-move win that follows is our Game of the Day, annotated by GM Dejan Bojkov.

Nakamura admitted he had a “very, very tough game” against the talented Vantika, though he credited his 62-move victory to cranking up the pressure when his opponent was low on time. Her weakening 28.f5? was essentially the losing move, and was played with under 20 seconds on the clock.

Vantika’s 28.f5?, played with just 18 seconds to spare, looks to be a blunder! https://t.co/B37eld2k4P #QatarMasters2023 pic.twitter.com/GcyQosQgZn

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 11, 2023

With 28…Qe2+! and then 29…Qd3 Nakamura was able to force a favorable endgame, and he never gave his opponent another chance. Check out his full recap below.  

Seven of the top-ten seeds won, with GM Jorden van Foreest pouncing on a less-than-obvious blunder to trap German IM Raphael Lagunow’s queen. Just to emphasize the point, when the queen briefly managed to escape the box, it was only to find itself doomed to be lost.

No one said it was going to be easy, however. Giri did eventually win, but only after again and again seeming to let a win slip against another talented young Indian IM, S Rohith Krishna. You could definitely be forgiven for missing the strength of 20.Rh5! (with the main threat simply to follow up with Qb5 and take on d5).

The shocking 20.Rh5! was winning for Giri (20…Qxh5 21.Qxd7 hits the rook and knight), while after 20.Rg3!? Rohith Krishna is back in the game! https://t.co/TtBvtRBQIK #QatarMasters2023 pic.twitter.com/iqVUD3j4Md

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 11, 2023

Giri made very hard work of what followed, however, and allowed his opponent to come incredibly close to taking a draw.

All’s well that ends well, but for other top players it was an even tougher day at the office.

There is no fun at #chess event without @anishgiri 🙌@QatarChess pic.twitter.com/xqbFfSXEKk

— Keti Tsatsalashvili (@keti_chess) October 11, 2023

Nihal had to defend an inferior endgame until move 109, while Indian IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh had the mighty Gukesh on the ropes. The world number-eight eventually exchanged off queens and grovelled for a draw, but it still cost 3.7 rating points and dropping out of the top-ten on the live rating list.

Of course that wasn’t the worst that could happen, with Fedoseev losing 8.4 points after falling to 279-point-lower-rated Kushagra in a game where things escalated fast.

There are still eight rounds to go, however, so that early misfortunes are no insurmountable obstacle to overall success. 

Magnus Carlsen will have the black pieces against 23-year-old Kazakh GM Alisher Suleymenov in Round 2 of the #QatarMasters2023! https://t.co/ouyN2ddZ9u pic.twitter.com/oD1aQzA9Ze

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 11, 2023

Qatar Masters | All Games Round 1

The 2023 Qatar Masters is a nine-round open tournament for players rated 2300+. It takes place in Lusail, Qatar on October 11-20, and boasts a $108,250 prize fund with $25,000 for first place, as well as a $5,000 prize for the top female player.

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