Al Ain Open won by Abhijeet Gupta

by ChessBase
12/31/2013 – In parallel to the World Youth Championship in Al Ain, U.A.E, two swiss opens were held. One for players rated 2000 FIDE or less, and one open to all. The top Open attracted dozens of grandmasters, the strongest being Georgian GM Baadur Jobava who was the only 2700 player. Jobava led until the end, when he fell ill and defaulted the last round. Abhijeet Gupta took first. Report and games.

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In parallel to the World Youth Championship in Al Ain, U.A.E., two swiss opens were held. One for players rated 2000 FIDE or less, and one open to all. The Al Ain Open A attracted dozens of grandmasters from all around, the strongest being Georgian GM Baadur Jobava who was the only 2700 player.

Visiting players wishing to play some chess and not just watch the World Youth
had all they needed

The top rated player not only was in form, but was destroying the field up until round seven of nine, when he fell ill. He then lost in round eight, and despite still being one of the leaders, failed to show up entirely in round nine, losing by default. As a result he finished in tenth.  

Baadur Jobava observes the games near him

[Event "Al Ain open classic A"] [Site "Al Ain"] [Date "2013.12.24"] [Round "6.1"] [White "Jobava, Baadur"] [Black "Oleksienko, Mikhailo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2705"] [BlackElo "2622"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2013.12.19"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. e4 {Jobava has long made a name for himself for going his own way when it came to openings.} dxe4 4. d5 Ne5 5. Qd4 Ng6 6. Be3 e5 7. dxe6 Bxe6 8. Nge2 Nf6 9. O-O-O Qxd4 10. Nxd4 Bg4 11. Bb5+ c6 12. Nxc6 {The Georgian player has managed to create an extremely sharp position, which although not won in any way, certainly favors his particular style.} a6 (12... Bxd1 {would be worse after} 13. Nxa7+ Ke7 14. Rxd1 Rd8 15. Re1 $16) 13. Ba4 Bxd1 $5 {Black refuses to back down.} ({He could have chosen to try and disarm the position with} 13... Nd7 14. Nd5 Bd6 15. Nd4 {[%csl Ra8,Rd7][%cal Rd5b6] Threatening Nb6} b5 {and though neither better or worse, fewer pieces are hanging.}) 14. Rxd1 Be7 15. Nxe7+ Kxe7 16. Bc5+ Ke6 {[%csl Re6][%cal Rc5f8, Ra4e8,Rd1d8] Though the queens are off and some pieces, the king in the center and heavy white artillery cannot be comfortable.} 17. Ne2 Rhd8 18. Nd4+ Ke5 19. Bb6 Rdc8 20. Ne2 Nf8 21. Bd4+ Kf5 22. Ng3+ Kg6 23. f4 exf3 24. c3 fxg2 $2 { Until now Black had been playing with computer precision, but this came at a cost in time and difficulty, and he finally loses his balance.} (24... Rd8) ({ or} 24... Ne6 {were necessary.}) 25. Bc2+ Kg5 26. Be3+ Kg4 27. Rd4+ Kh3 28. Bf5+ Kxh2 29. Rh4+ (29. Rh4+ Kxg3 30. Rh3#) 1-0

The friendly arbiters ensuring a smooth event

The tournament was won by Indian GM Abhijeet Gupta, tied with two others at 7.0/9, and who ironically was the beneficiary of the last round default by Jobava. In second was Vasif Durarbayli from Azerbaijan and in third was Ukrainian GM Martyn Kravtsiv.

Indian GM G.N.Gopal

[Event "Al Ain open classic A group"] [Site "Al Ain"] [Date "2013.12.21"] [Round "3.14"] [White "Tunik, Gennady"] [Black "Gupta, Abhijeet"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2416"] [BlackElo "2608"] [PlyCount "122"] [EventDate "2013.12.19"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bd2 Nb6 6. e3 Bg7 7. f4 O-O 8. Nf3 c5 9. dxc5 N6d7 10. Ne4 Bxb2 11. Rb1 Bg7 12. Qc1 Nf6 13. Nxf6+ Bxf6 14. Be2 Qc7 15. e4 Be6 16. Qa3 Nc6 17. Be3 a5 18. O-O Nb4 19. e5 Bg7 20. Rb2 Rfd8 21. Nd4 Bd5 22. Nb5 Qc6 23. Nc3 e6 24. Nxd5 Nxd5 25. Bf3 Bf8 26. Rfb1 Rd7 27. Bxd5 Qxd5 28. Rd2 Qe4 29. Rxd7 Qxb1+ 30. Kf2 b6 31. Qb3 Qxb3 32. axb3 Bxc5 33. Bxc5 bxc5 34. Rc7 a4 35. bxa4 Rxa4 36. Kf3 Ra3+ 37. Kg4 Rc3 38. g3 c4 39. Rc8+ Kg7 { Diagram [#] Black has played a fine positional game and is a pawn up, however converting is not straightforward.} 40. Kh4 Rc2 41. h3 h6 42. Kg4 c3 43. Rc7 Rc1 44. Rc8 c2 45. Rc7 h5+ 46. Kh4 Kh6 $1 {Black has found a way to give the c-pawn and to force the gain of another, allowing him to progress.} 47. Rc8 Re1 $1 48. Rxc2 Re4 $1 {This is the key. The threat of ...g5 mate cannot be parried without giving something back.} 49. g4 {The only move.} Rxf4 50. Re2 Rf3 51. gxh5 g5+ 52. Kg4 Rf4+ 53. Kg3 Kxh5 54. Re1 Kg6 55. Re2 Kf5 56. Re1 Re4 57. Rxe4 Kxe4 58. Kg4 Kxe5 59. Kxg5 Kd6 60. h4 Ke7 61. Kh6 e5 0-1

Final ranking

Rk
SNo
Tit
Name
FED
Rtg
Pts
Perf
1
10
GM
 Gupta Abhijeet
IND
2608
7.0
2622
2
16
GM
 Durarbayli Vasif
AZE
2559
7.0
2711
3
7
GM
 Kravtsiv Martyn
UKR
2617
7.0
2715
4
26
GM
 Babujian Levon
ARM
2512
6.5
2581
5
17
GM
 Baryshpolets Andrey
UKR
2557
6.5
2546
6
6
GM
 Oleksienko Mikhailo
UKR
2622
6.5
2686
7
11
GM
 Vovk Andrey
UKR
2599
6.5
2601
8
2
GM
 Amin Bassem
EGY
2654
6.5
2668
9
19
GM
 Gopal G.N.
IND
2540
6.5
2635
10
1
GM
 Jobava Baadur
GEO
2705
6.0
2743

Click for complete standings

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