World number-one Magnus Carlsen‘s hopes of making the Qatar Masters 2023 a repeat of his 2015 victory have all but gone after a sacrifice against GM Karthikeyan Murali boomeranged into another loss, this time with the white pieces. GM Arjun Erigaisi is the only top-10 seed in the six-strong leading pack, though GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov lurk half a point behind.
