15th Dubai Open Chess Championship

by ChessBase
4/16/2013 – This very strong tournament, with close to 200 players (38 GMs) from 34 countries, took place from April 6-16 and was won by Russian GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov. The venue was the Dubai Chess and Culture Club, possibly the biggest than most modern chess club in the world. Our giant closing report contains a wealth of pictures and plenty of videos to watch. Dubai 2013.
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15th Dubai Open Chess Championship

The Dubai Open, one of the strongest tournaments in the world, took place from 6 to 16th April 2013, with a record of 194 players from 34 countries are competing – 38 GMs, six WGMs, 26 IMs, six WIMs, 13 FMs and five WFMs. At stake was the Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cuip and a total of $50,000 in cash prizes. The tournament was a nine-round Swiss with games scheduled 5:30 daily. There was also a blitz tournament with $4,000 at stake in cash prizes.

The venue of the 15th Dubai Open Chess Championship was the Dubai Chess and Culture Club, the biggest than most modern dedicated chess club in the world. Here are some pictures:

Click on the images and hold the right button down to scroll left or right

The Club has organized many international and local events among which are the following: Youth Blitz World Chess championship 1985, Blitz Chess Tournament for participants in Dubai Olympiad 1986, Dubai Open Chess Championship and Credit Swiss Chess Masters Tournament 1994, and the Asian Cities Team Chess Championship (Dubai Cup) 1996. In addition its technical team took part in the organization of all international events held in UAE.

Round one opening with GM Akopian Vladimir, 2704, vs CM Nadir Samir, 2135 (Akopian won)

Enchanting: three little Arab princesses, with dignitaries
Khaled Zayed, Ibrahim Abdulmalik and Ibrahim Al Bannai

The luxurious playing venue in the Dubai Chess and Culture Club

Sole first place: GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov, RUS, 2591, with 7.5/9 points

A critical game in round five: Estonian GM Jaan Ehlvest vs Rakhmanov –
the Russian GM won and Ehlvest finished at 7.0/9 points

GM Michalik Peter from Slovakia, 2535, finished at 7.0/9 points

Top final ranking after nine rounds

Rk. Title Name FED Rtg Pts.  TB1 
1 GM Rakhmanov Aleksandr RUS 2591 7.5 20611
2 GM Volkov Sergey RUS 2593 7.0 20561
3 WGM Ju Wenjun CHN 2521 7.0 20284
4 GM Kuzubov Yuriy UKR 2619 7.0 20144
5 GM Laznicka Viktor CZE 2674 7.0 20111
6 GM Ehlvest Jaan USA 2611 7.0 20089
7 GM Istratescu Andrei FRA 2648 7.0 20009
8 GM Michalik Peter SVK 2535 7.0 19439
9 GM Sokolov Ivan NED 2643 7.0 19287
10 GM Akopian Vladimir ARM 2704 6.5 20512
11 IM Ghosh Diptayan IND 2451 6.5 20389
12 GM Kryvoruchko Yuriy UKR 2668 6.5 20229
13 GM Sargissian Gabriel ARM 2666 6.5 20210
14 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar IND 2623 6.5 20131
15 GM Oleksienko Mikhailo UKR 2554 6.5 20060
16 GM Pantsulaia Levan GEO 2556 6.5 19989
17 GM Lalith Babu M.R. IND 2565 6.5 19836
18 IM Debashis Das IND 2477 6.5 19796
19 GM Gupta Abhijeet IND 2591 6.5 19621
20 GM Darini Pouria IRI 2505 6.0 20452
21 GM Edouard Romain FRA 2670 6.0 20198
22 IM Khotenashvili Bela GEO 2492 6.0 20097
23 GM Jumabayev Rinat KAZ 2549 6.0 19897
24 GM Amin Bassem EGY 2641 6.0 19841
25 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2530 6.0 19691
26 GM Burmakin Vladimir RUS 2580 6.0 19685
27 IM Vishnu Prasanna. V IND 2470 6.0 19652
28 GM Carlsson Pontus SWE 2520 6.0 19601
29 GM Adhiban B. IND 2555 6.0 19567
30 GM Kotsur Pavel KAZ 2552 6.0 19529
31 GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan IRI 2561 6.0 19426
32 IM Shoker Samy EGY 2480 6.0 19156
33 GM Grover Sahaj IND 2467 6.0 19124
34 IM Hayrapetyan Hovik ARM 2503 6.0 19057
35 IM Karavade Eesha IND 2389 6.0 18973
36 GM Shyam Sundar M. IND 2505 6.0 18904
37 GM Wen Yang CHN 2631 6.0 18796

The blitz tournament was held on day six (with two regular rounds played on day five
to make this possible). It was won by GM Salem Saleh of the United Arab Emirates.

Chinese WGM Ju Wenjun, rated 2521, 7.0/9, with an impressive 2683 performance

Wenjun finishing ahead of many strong GMs and was celebrated in the local press

German IM Elisabeth Paehtz, rated 2479, finished at 5.5/9 points

Her buddy IM Tania Sachdev from India, rated 2409, also scored 5.5/9

Indian talent WIM Ivana Maria Furtado, 2093, who has just turned 14 and scored 5.0/9

Top Iranian female: WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan, 2303, finished at 4.5/9

Coverage in the local broadsheets (note: you must read the text from right to left)

Wijk aan Zee has its famous pea soup bar, Dubai offers a slightly different cuisine

All photos above are by Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh. There are hundreds more, unfortunately all uncpationed, on the official site, which also provides links to the daily bulletins, PGN files of the games (here's a zip file for your convenience), and video reports.

The final video report which includes an interview with the winner GM Aleksandr Rakhainov

Video report on Dubai International Blitz for Axiom Cup, won by Salem A.R. Saleh

Indian TV journalist Vijay Kumar's reports can be seen by litereally hundreds of
millions of viewers. You can watch more videos from Dubai 2013 his Youtube channel.

Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

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