Dragan Solak wins 17th Dubai Open

The 17th Dubai Open Chess Tournament took place from 5th – 16th April 2015 at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club, with players from at least 43 countries competing for the prestigious Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup – nine rounds Swiss, time controls: 90 min + 30 sec per move start from move one. The total prize sum was US $50,000, with the winner receiving $12,000. Cash prizes were awarded to the top 18 placers, with additional prizes for local and Arab players and for the top women scorers.

Dragan Solak wins 17th Dubai Open

By IM Sagar Shah in Dubai

Turkey’s Dragan Solak played the entire tournament very well, scripting wins over strong grandmasters like Kuzubov, Solodovnichenko and remaining unbeaten with a score of 7.0/9. He gained 19.5 Elo points and with a performance of 2753 was the deserving winner of the tournament. Maybe the only point of complaint could be his relatively uninspired 15 move draw against Eltaj Safarli in the last round.

GM Dragan Solak won the Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdam Al Maktoum cup
by edging out his rivals on the tie-break

The tie-break that was applied in order to determine the winner was the sum of the ratings of the opponents faced. As Dragan had played against Howell, Fedoseev, Kovalenko and Kuzubov it was obvious that his average was going to be much higher than the rest. The prize money, however, was shared between the six players who finally ended at the top with 7.0/9. According to our calculations, each of the six players went home richer by US $5,367.

Eltaj Safarli, after drawing his final round game quickly against Dragan, decided to try his skills on the table football (also known as foosball) during the prayer break. He teamed up with GM Alexander Fier to make it a formidable team. However, as can be seen from the picture the Arab opponents turned out to be seasoned professionals and they crushed the GM duo!

As GM Bartel Mateusz put it, “Playing on the first board at the Dubai Open is like playing in heaven!”
The white colour and only two players on the top made it look like a World Championship Match setting

David Howell, who played the first seven rounds in heaven, was pushed back to earth in the eighth round. But he duly won it against Gadir Guseinov and set up an all-important top board clash with Vladimir Fedoseev in the last round.

Two youngsters on the top board before the start of the last round

In the game Fedoseev seemed to be in a creative mood, as he tried out the same idea which was used by Alekhine in the famous 1924 New York tournament against Emanuel Lasker. The second World Champion was able to beat Alekhine in that game with the black pieces, and a black win was also on cards in Fedoseev-Howell. But the Russian turned out to be highly resourceful as he saved the game and prevented the English player from clinching the sole first spot.

At the end of the mercurial battle: a slightly depressed David Howell, who finished second,
and a highly relieved Vladimir Fedoseev who finished third

Andrei Istratescu scored a last round victory over Ipatov to finish fourth

The game Istratescu-Ipatov was filled with some great action. Ipatov played fearlessly and after Istratescu’s blunder obtained a completely winning position. But he missed his chance and in fact sacrificed further material, which was going too far. In a position where Istratescu had three minor pieces against Ipatov’s rook and five pawns, the French player showed precise technique and brought home the full point.

Alexander Ipatov: one missed opportunity is all that separates
you from the joint first and twentieth spot!

The winner of recently held Karpos Open, Ivan Ivanisevic, finished fifth

Serbian GM Ivan Ivanisevic has quite a unique style of playing. He likes to grab material even at the cost of handing over the initiative to his opponent. With accurate defence he then swings the game in his favour. His final round game against Alexander Shabalov had similar course of events but was marred by mistakes on both sides.

Shabalov’s wonderful tournament didn’t have a happy ending

IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman scored 5.5/9 and won the prize for best female player

WGM Gunay Mammadzada won the prize of the second best female player.
She is just 15 years old and surely a player to watch out for.

To make my caption clear I would like to present the readers with the following position that was reached in my last round game against Gunay.

Sagar Shah - Gunay Mammadzada

My last move was Bg2-d5, and it is It’s Black to play. White is surely worse. He is a pawn down. Black can play solidly and slowly try to convert her advantage. But Gunay found the best way to win. Can you also do the same? The solution is given at the end of this report.

Final Rankings after nine rounds

The winner of the tournament: GM Dragan Solak

• Full results and standings for all 150 players

Pictorial impressions from the Dubai Open

Intense concentration: GM Eduardo Iturrizaga, finished with 6.0/9 points

GM Sergei Zhigalko from Belarus, 6.0/9, kibizing rival games

GM Mihaljo Stojanovic, 5.5/9 points

Style icon: GM Daniele Vocaturo finished 5.0/9, losing 13 rating points

A pretty horrible tournament for GM Abhijeet Gupta who scored 4.5/9 and lost 26 Elo points

Azari IM Zaur Mammadov, rated 2470, will remember this tournament for many years to come.
He scored 6.5/9 and made his final GM norm, gaining 17 Elo pointw that guarantees him his title.

Three Indians made IM norms at the event: N.R. Vignesh, Abhishek Kelkar
who has completed all the formalities to become an IM, and Aniruddha Deshpande

Turkish WGM Betul Yildiz had a good event, scoring 5.0/9 and gaining ten Elo points

….while her country mate WGM Kubra Ozturk had a forgettable one, losing 50 Elo points!

Zeinab Mamedyarova, sister of Shakriyar Mamedyarov, lost 28 rating points

Seeking divine assistance? Second seeded GM Igor Kovalenko finished 14th

Faisal Ali (1606) from UAE made the largest rating gain in the event, a whopping 122 points!

GM David Howell ponders over the question I posed: “What one quality, according to you,
is the most important to become a world class GM?” David’s answer: “The talent to persevere.”

The 17th Dubai Open comes to an end. In terms of quality of organization, players and playing conditions it is definitely one of the best tournaments in the world. However, little quirks like the namaaz prayer break of ten minutes at 6.45 p.m. during every round and the irregular schedule of a rest day followed by a double round are two things that must be seriously considered before playing in this tournament.

Solution to the Sagar Shah - Gunay Mammadzada puzzle

All pictures by Amruta Mokal, who is the wife of our reporter. Amruta (rated 2075)
created a big upset in round one by beating GM Daniele Vocaturo (2594) with the black pieces

Links Official tournament site Selection of games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.