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The Abu Dhabi Masters is being held from the 23rd to 31st of August 2015 in the capital city of UAE. 120 players from as many as 35 countries, with 44 grandmasters, are participating in this event. 22 players have a rating of more than 2600. The winner takes home US $12000. It’s a nine round Swiss tournament with the rate of play being one hour 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.
Things started off pretty well for the top ranked players in the first round. Almost everyone won their initial games. But then the slugfest began. The second round paired grandmasters against each other, and it was the top seeded Zoltan Almasi who fell victim to the 22-year-old Russian GM Vladimir Belous.
Beating a 2700 opponent is not a walk in the park! Vladimir Belous, rated 2566, from Russia.
Zoltan Almasi has been having a pretty horrid event. After his loss to Belous, he lost another game
in round four against Nevednichy and then a draw against Vakhidov. Currently he is on 3.5/6.
After his win against Almasi, Belous continued his good form with a victory over Abijit Gupta and draws against Tigran Petrosian and Gawain Jones. Currently he has a rating performance of 2689. The only person to have beaten him is the man-in-form …
… the Swedish GM Nils Grandelius
Double rounds are always difficult. But Nils showed loads of stamina to beat Sandipan Chanda (2585) and Vladimir Belous (2566) to emerge as the sole leader with 4.0/4. In the sixth round Nils faced Kravstiv and the two played a very interesting game. First a quick test of your tactical skills – the answers are in the game commentary below.
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In the first diagram the threat is simple Rxf6 followed by a mate on h7. While h6 would be a normal continuation, Kravtsiv played a killer move. Can you find it?
The second position, taken from our analysis, might seem like a draw, but Black has a nice winning formation at his disposal. Can you see it? (Please check the addendum below the game analysis which shows that the position is not a win. So your task can be to find the best plan of playing for a win for Black and then still making a draw with White.)
Addendum: A few hours after the report was published Amirezza Pouramzanali wrote to us saying that the second diagram position of W-Kf3, h4, a5 and B-Kc7, Ng4 f7 is actually a draw. After the moves 56...Nf6 57.Kf4 Kb7 58.Kf5 Nh7 is not an impregnable fortress. White can make a draw with 59. Ke5 Ka6 60. Kd6 Kxa5 61. h5 Kb5 62. h6 Kc4 63. Ke7! f5 64. Kf7 f4 65. Kg7 f3 66. Kxh7 f2 67. Kg7 f1=Q 68. h7 and it is of course a theoretical draw. We thank Amirezza for the correction.
Martyn Kravtsiv (2599) was unlucky to not have beaten his third 2600+ opponent in a row!
With wins over Gawain Jones and Yuriy Kuzubov, he has an astronomical performance of 2791.
In the past few months Gawain Jones has been busy writing a two-part book on the Dragon for Quality Chess which is due to be released on the 9th of September. It is always interesting when the author of a particular opening decides to try out his recommendation in a tournament game. But when you have worked for hours and hours on the opening it is extremely difficult to remember all the analysis, more so when it is a sharp and complicated variation as the Dragon.
We all know what a creative genius Baadur Jobava is. His eccentric moves and opening ideas have been dismissed by many experts as plain bad. Yet due to his excellent calculating abilities he is able to beat the best of the players in the world. But when you have only a minute left on the clock and the more than twenty pieces are still on the board even the best tend to go wrong. This is exactly what happened in the game Jobava-Swiercz. Both players were down to just one minute and the position was tremendously complicated. A nightmare for the players, but a treat for the audience!
Baadur Jobava vs Dariusz Swiercz: So many pieces, so little time!
After the game I asked Jobava how he manages to keep his cool in such tense situations?
He replied:“I looked cool only on the outside. Inside I was very nervous, completely crazy!”
| Rk. | SNo | Ti. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB2 | TB3 |
w-we
|
rtg+/-
|
| 1 | 12 | GM | Grandelius Nils | SWE | 2628 | 5.0 | 2579 | 23.5 |
1.28
|
12.8
|
| 2 | 24 | GM | Kravtsiv Martyn | UKR | 2599 | 5.0 | 2577 | 23.0 |
1.47
|
14.7
|
| 3 | 7 | GM | Areshchenko Alex. | UKR | 2661 | 5.0 | 2535 | 19.0 |
0.81
|
8.1
|
| 4 | 4 | GM | Rapport Richard | HUN | 2671 | 5.0 | 2509 | 21.0 |
0.59
|
5.9
|
| 5 | 17 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet | IND | 2619 | 5.0 | 2478 | 22.0 |
0.68
|
6.8
|
| 6 | 5 | GM | Jobava Baadur | GEO | 2664 | 4.5 | 2595 | 23.0 |
0.51
|
5.1
|
| 7 | 3 | GM | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | UKR | 2697 | 4.5 | 2575 | 21.0 |
0.31
|
3.1
|
| 8 | 13 | GM | Iturrizaga Eduardo | VEN | 2625 | 4.5 | 2565 | 21.5 |
0.84
|
8.4
|
| 9 | 11 | GM | Kuzubov Yuriy | UKR | 2638 | 4.5 | 2550 | 23.5 |
0.54
|
5.4
|
| 10 | 31 | GM | Kulaots Kaido | EST | 2573 | 4.5 | 2540 | 20.0 |
0.97
|
9.7
|
| 11 | 9 | GM | Akopian Vladimir | ARM | 2647 | 4.5 | 2526 | 19.0 |
0.32
|
3.2
|
| 12 | 19 | GM | Swiercz Dariusz | POL | 2617 | 4.5 | 2522 | 20.5 |
0.48
|
4.8
|
| 13 | 22 | GM | Prohaszka Peter | HUN | 2602 | 4.5 | 2502 | 19.0 |
0.44
|
4.4
|
| 14 | 15 | GM | Petrosian Tigran L. | ARM | 2623 | 4.5 | 2446 | 20.5 |
0.01
|
0.1
|
The local boy, UAE’s only grandmaster and the reigning Asian Champion Salem Saleh, lost to Alexander Areshchenko in a complex Najdorf (game worth seeing) in the sixth round. But it was not before he had already inflicted a defeat on Yuriy Kryvoruchko in the third round.
After six rounds Richard Rapport is in the lead with 5.0/6. In these six games we haven’t seen any insane opening choices from him. The closest he got to unusual was when he was White against Sandipan Chanda and he went 1.Nf3 e6 2.e4 d5 3.e5!? But the game soon transposed into a French Advance. In Abu Dhabi, the Hungarian is favouring the Benoni and has beaten two opponents with it. In the last three rounds he will be the man to watch out for.
Gabor Papp (left) and Peter Prohaszka from Hungary are great friends. Thanks to their similar ratings they are usually playing on the adjoining tables. You get to see completely contrasting styles when you visit their boards. Gabor, who is a vigorous attacker, is usually trying to hunt down his opponent’s king, while Peter, who is positional player, is will be nursing his extra pawn with great care and technique. The fact that both are 2600 Elo shows that there no perfect or correct style in chess. It’s all a matter of taste!
The talented Russian youngster Sanan Sjugirov is on 3.5/6
and having a tough event, losing 12 Elo points
Haridas Pascua of Philippines has been having a great event, beating Tigran Petrosian and Vladimir Onischuk, with draws against Richard Rapport and Dariusz Swiercz. Currently he is performing at an Elo of 2662. Here is one very pretty combination from one of his games.
Vladimir Onischuk – Haridas Pascua, Round five
White has just played his bishop from e3 to d4, which turned out to be a huge mistake. Haridas ended the game in just two moves now. Can you spot the winning combination?
Click for the solution
This is what happens when your game lasts for five and a half hours! Aleksandr Rakhmanov
against Irina Bulmaga in a marathon struggle. The game was won by Rakhmanov at 11.45 p.m.!
And the award for the cutest face in the tournament goes to … Javokhir Sindarov from Uzbekistan. But let not his looks deceive you. This ten-year-old kid is already rated 2198 and is gaining 46 Elo by beating Blasius Nuber (2339) and achieving draws against Rakesh Kulkarni (2368), Padmini Rout (2444) and Aziz Nezad Husein (2404). In one of the games where he was sitting next to me I was completely stunned by the speed and ease with which he was making his moves. Magnus Carlsen in the making?!
Four-time French Youth Champion Cecile Haussernot
is having a good event and has already gained 26 Elo
WGM Vita Kryvoruchko from Ukraine is on 2.5/6
Rakesh Kulkarni just pointed to his t-shirt when his opponent offered a draw!
Jacek Stopa is not having such a great event: he is on 2.5/6. But the Abu Dhabi Masters is his twelfth consecutive tournament. He recently became a grandmaster and wrote a beautiful article for uschess.org on his journey to the GM title entitled “Studying in Extremes”.
The highest rated woman player in the event, Harika Dronavalli
from India, is playing well with 4.0/6, and gaining some Elo points
Red is the favourite colour of so many participants! Clockwise from top left:
Abhijeet Gupta, G.N. Gopal, Salem Saleh, Samuel Shankland, Maria Severina, Richard Rapport.
Live games are displayed in the playing hall on giant screens
Stylish ambience in hotel Sofitel….
…coupled with sumptuous meals
The former Chief Producer News and Sports of Doordarshan, which is India's largest broadcasting organization, continues his great work with every round video presentations. Here are his impressions of rounds three to six – now in HD! These reports contain some interesting mini-interviews.
Abu Dhabi Chess Festival Round 3
Abu Dhabi Chess Festival Round 4 – Nedvednichy upsets Almasi
Abu Dhabi Chess Festival Round 5 – Nils and Martyn in joint lead
Abu Dhabi Chess Festival 2015 Round 6
Do not miss GM Dmitry Komarov’s enlightening commentary from the event – here's a sample:
Before signing off, here’s a small trivia: Who is the player in the above picture? Hint: He is a strong grandmaster. Write down your answers in the comments section below. You can also tweet your answers @adchessfestival using the hashtag #unknownsweaterman.
Pictures by Amruta Mokal
| ChessBase is providing detailed coverage of the Abu Dhabi Masters 2015. The games are being be 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. |
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