By Sports Reporter/Doha


It was unlike the first round of an open tournament as there were some upsets on the first day of the second edition of the Qatar Masters Open on Sunday.
At the Aspire Zone, the new venue for the biggest open tournament, top seed and world No1 Magnus Carlsen, India No 2 Pentala Harikrishna, Dmitry Jakovenko and Vassily Ivanchuk were all held in the opening round, while China’s Wei Yi, Russian GM Nikita Vitiugov and GM Pavel Tregubov lost their games.
Ivanchuk, a veteran of opens such as Gibraltar, was held to a draw by 20-year-old International Master (IM) Ma Zhoghan from China, while Harikrishna was held by his compatriot Chithambaram Aravindh. India’s IM Sagar Shah also drew with Russian GM Vladimir Fedoseev.
Former world champion and world No 2 Vladimir Kramnik, third seed Anish Giri and defending champions Yu Yangyi of China won their opening round games. Philippine GM Wesley So defeated rising young Russian star and current national champion WGM Alexandra Goryachkina.
Second-seed Kramnik, who suffered two draws last year to start and needed 80+ moves for his first win in round three, fared much better in the start of his campaign this year. He defeated Georgian GM Bela Khotenashvili.
Giri defeated India’s IM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan for his first win, while Yangyi beat Neelotpal Das of India.
Despite playing a Reversed Benko (Volga) Gambit against Georgia’s Nino Batsiashvili, top-seed Carlsen spent more time in the opening and in fact was closer to overstepping in the first time control. He could be seen biting his lip while Batsiashvili looked calm.
“I was happy. In another tournament, I would not have been able to play him. It’s good for me and for my chess skills,” Batsiashvili said after the game.
“I was just playing my moves and not worried about who I am playing,” Batsiashvili said.
As his clock remained under one minute for the last handful of moves leading up to move 40 (there was a 30-second increment), Batsiashvili invaded the second rank and took over the initiative.
“I think I had a little bad position in the endgame,” Batsiashvili said. Her active defence earned her about four rating points and she is knocking on the door of 2500.
Carlsen heads a list of over 148 players, including five former world champions, who are vying for the top prize of $27,000 in the ten-day tournament which ends on December 29.