Abu Dhabi Masters LIVE

by Aditya Pai

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8/15/2018 – The 25th edition of the Abu Dhabi Chess Festival kicks off today at Hotel Dusit Thani, Abu Dhabi. The anniversary event is extra strong this year, featuring five grandmasters with a 2700+ Elo, among them the FIDE Presidential candidate Nigel Short making a brief return to the chessboard amid a hectic campaign season.

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Abu Dhabi Chess Festival turns 25

The 2018 Abu Dhabi Chess Festival is underway at Hotel Dusit Thani in the Emirati capital of Abi Dhabi. The tournament is a 9-round Swiss Open with a time control of 90 min per player plus 30 seconds per move starting from the first move.

Live games and commentary

Commentary by GM Viorel Iordachescu

Results of Round 8 (top 10)

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	16	GM	Salem A.R. Saleh	2636	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Dubov Daniil	2691	6
2	10	GM	Korobov Anton	2664	6	1 - 0	5½	GM	Rapport Richard	2719	2
3	3	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2718	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2609	22
4	15	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	2636	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2680	8
5	4	GM	Wang Hao	2711	5	½ - ½	5½	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2581	28
6	35	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	2539	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Akopian Vladimir	2655	12
7	23	GM	Andersen Mads	2601	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Debashis Das	2539	36
8	34	IM	Nihal Sarin	2556	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Kuybokarov Temur	2499	44
9	1	GM	Le Quang Liem	2727	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Aryan Chopra	2536	38
10	5	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	2707	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Firouzja Alireza	2561	33

Standings after eight rounds (top 20)

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	10	GM	Korobov Anton		2664	7,0	0,0	2600	41,0	8	7	4,95	2,05	10	20,5
2	6	GM	Dubov Daniil		2691	6,5	0,0	2605	43,0	8	6,5	5,20	1,30	10	13,0
3	16	GM	Salem A.R. Saleh		2636	6,5	0,0	2576	38,0	8	6,5	4,86	1,64	10	16,4
4	8	GM	Sargissian Gabriel		2680	6,5	0,0	2574	42,0	8	6,5	5,37	1,13	10	11,3
5	3	GM	Cheparinov Ivan		2718	6,5	0,0	2571	40,0	8	6,5	5,76	0,74	10	7,4
6	28	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.		2581	6,0	0,0	2590	41,0	8	6	4,27	1,73	10	17,3
7	35	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek		2539	6,0	0,0	2464	38,0	8	6	5,03	0,97	10	9,7
8	36	GM	Debashis Das		2539	6,0	0,0	2447	33,0	8	6	5,12	0,88	10	8,8
9	2	GM	Rapport Richard		2719	5,5	0,0	2615	40,0	8	5,5	5,37	0,13	10	1,3
10	4	GM	Wang Hao		2711	5,5	0,0	2600	42,0	8	5,5	5,44	0,06	10	0,6
11	5	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir		2707	5,5	0,0	2592	40,5	8	5,5	5,46	0,04	10	0,4
12	7	GM	Amin Bassem		2684	5,5	0,0	2568	41,0	8	5,5	5,46	0,04	10	0,4
13	15	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham		2636	5,5	0,0	2564	38,0	8	5,5	5,05	0,45	10	4,5
14	34	IM	Nihal Sarin		2556	5,5	0,0	2563	37,0	8	5,5	4,28	1,22	10	12,2
15	26	GM	Pantsulaia Levan		2587	5,5	0,0	2557	40,5	8	5,5	4,59	0,91	10	9,1
16	44	IM	Kuybokarov Temur		2499	5,5	0,0	2552	37,0	8	5,5	3,88	1,62	10	16,2
17	37	GM	Kadric Denis		2537	5,5	0,0	2512	37,0	8	5,5	4,55	0,95	10	9,5
18	52	IM	Nguyen Anh Khoi		2454	5,5	0,0	2508	37,5	8	5,5	3,83	1,67	10	16,7
19	22	GM	Karthikeyan Murali		2609	5,5	0,0	2489	37,5	8	5,5	5,40	0,10	10	1,0
20	54	IM	Nitin S.		2449	5,5	0,0	2480	33,0	8	5,5	4,06	1,44	10	14,4

...158 players

Event poster

Besides the main event, the festival also consists of an Open tournament for players rated below 2100 (since July 1st, 2017), a Juniors’ tournament for players below 16 years of age a blitz event and a lot more.

Celebrating its silver jubilee this year, the festival’s premier event, the Abu Dhabi Masters, will feature a field of very strong grandmasters. More than 100 titled players from 25+ countries have confirmed their participation this year.

In comparison to the previous year when Nigel Short was the top seed of the event with an Elo of 2688, this year, the tournament features five grandmasters rated above 2700. The line-up includes some well-known names like Richard Rapport, Le Quang Liem, Ivan Cheparinov, and Short, currently focused on the FIDE Presidential race, is back as well.

Top seeded participants at the Abu Dhabi Masters 2018

Some of the top grandmasters in the fray

GM Nigel Short

GM Nigel Short has taken some time off his presidential campaign to play in Abu Dhabi | Photo: Prashant Mullick

Also, there are tons of very talented youngsters who can unsettle these bigwigs. Last year, the inaugural round had seen both of the top two seeds held to draws by players rated around 300 points lower and at least 14 years younger.

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Short Nigel D	2688	0	½ - ½	0		Arjun Kalyan	2366	62
2	63	CM	Gukesh D	2365	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Amin Bassem	2680	2

Round 1 results on the first two boards, last year

Starting rank (top 20)

No.		Name	FideID	FED	Rtg
1	GM	Le Quang Liem	12401137	VIE	2727
2	GM	Rapport Richard	738590	HUN	2719
3	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2905540	GEO	2718
4	GM	Wang Hao	8602883	CHN	2711
5	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	24130737	RUS	2707
6	GM	Dubov Daniil	24126055	RUS	2691
7	GM	Amin Bassem	10601457	EGY	2684
8	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	13300881	ARM	2680
9	GM	Sjugirov Sanan	4189302	RUS	2677
10	GM	Korobov Anton	14105730	UKR	2664
11	GM	Short Nigel D	400025	ENG	2659
12	GM	Akopian Vladimir	13300032	ARM	2655
13	GM	Kravtsiv Martyn	14113147	UKR	2654
14	GM	Parligras Mircea-Emilian	1204297	ROU	2645
15	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	12539929	IRI	2636
16	GM	Salem A.R. Saleh	9301348	UAE	2636
17	GM	Adly Ahmed	10601619	EGY	2634
18	GM	Lupulescu Constantin	1207822	ROU	2619
19	GM	Vocaturo Daniele	813192	ITA	2617
20	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	5010608	IND	2614

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Aditya Pai Aditya Pai is an ardent chess fan, avid reader, and a film lover. He holds a Master's in English Literature and used to work as an advertising copywriter before joining the ChessBase India team.

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