4/15/2014 – After eight from nine rounds French GM Romain Edouard is leading, with 7.0/8 points. Half a point behind is his main contender, former Juniour World Champion Abhijeet Gupta of India, and six players still have chances at 6.0/8. Everthing will be decided on the final day (Tuesday). We bring you a big pictorial report with three games annotated by GM Gupta, who has just launched a new web site.
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It is the strongest Open tournament in the Middle East and one of the most popular chess events on the world calendar. The tournament, which goes from 7th-15th April, is held in the Dubai Chess and Culture Centre, which is the biggest than most modern dedicated chess club in the world.
The event has attracted 148 players from 39 countries, including 79 titled players. There are 38 GMs in the field and the average rating of the tournament is 2214. The time control is one hour 30 mins + 30 seconds increment per move. The first prize for the event is US $10,000, with the total prize fund of $50,000.
Big finish – eight players in contention
Report by Vishal Sareen
Four rounds into the tournament former World Junior Champion Abhijeet Gupta from India had chalked up four victories and was the sole leader in the 16th editon of the Dubai open. Then came the disastrous fifth round, where he missed a few winning chances and ultimately lost to French GM Romain Edouard. All this was narrated in the previous ChessBase report.
In round five Edouard took the sole lead, and followed that up with a victory over highly regarded Vladimir Akopian in round six. Gupta was lucky to beat Pavel Kotsur. In the seventh there were draws by Edouard and Gupta, one quick and one in which the Indian was the lucky one, as he escaped against Yuriy Kuzubov. Chess is a leveler: a wining game lost results in an extra point in next two games.
Meanwhile German turned Swiss Sebastian Bogner and Kazakh Anuar Ismagembetov caught up with Gupta with two rounds still to go.
The start of the round eight top game Romain Edouard vs Anuar Ismagembetov
In the eighth round Edouard beat Ismagembetov, while Gupta outwitted Bogner. The last round is on Tuesday. A half point separates Edouard (7) and Gupta (6.5). We are witnessing a very tight race.
Abhijeet Gupta (right) ready to play the do-or-die game against Sebastian Bogner
And dont forget the wolf-pack of those who are on six. The world cup semifinalist Anton Korobov was found in a pensive mood in the mid-rounds. This was obviously because of inevitable draws. The top seed however is back on the top board following a fine victory over Axel Bachmann of Paraguay. He will take on Edouard in the decider and we are sure this will be fought very hard.
Venezuelan Eduardo Itturizaga has come back hunting too. He plays against Gupta in the last round. In round eight Itturizaga defeated Goran Dizdar of Croatia.
Aleksandr (trivia: how many ways are ther to spell this simple name?) Rakhmanov, the defending champion, soared back in contention with a victory in round eight
Last year's champion Russia's Aleksandr Rakhmanov is back in the groove too but the real comeback has been staged by English Gawain Jones.
He's back in contention after a shaky start: GM Gawain Jones
Jones started the Dubai open with two draws against players with 2100+ ratings. He was in fact lucky to survive the opener against Azeri girl Narmin Khalafova! Since then, its been a steady ride that puts him in contention for a podium finish. There are six contenders in all: one on seven, one on 6.5, and four on six. There will be bloodshed.
Niusha Afsar – I met her at the World Youth Chess Championship 2013 in Al Ain. She is a very friendly person with looks to kill.
Ninth World Chess Champion Tigran Petrosian – no, wait, he's a contemporary namesake from Armenia, who is a 2627 GM.
Smart and elegant: GM Sahaj Grover, one of the darlings of the crowd
Sahaj's round eight opponent M R Lalith Babu, who won their game
Another young talent from India, a grandmaster in the making: Diptayan Ghosh
Abhishek Kelkar, rated 2300, from India
WGM Elena Partac, rated 2101, from Moldova, is having a good tournament
V. Karthik, rated 2250, has done pretty well so far with 4.5/8
Pure determination: GM Petr Kostenko from Kazakhstan, rated 2506
Dorsa Derakhshani, an Iranian talent who seems to be doing fine, with a victory over strong Indian IM Swapnil Dhopade
We asked our friend Abhijeet for some commentary on his games in Dubai, and to our surprise received them while the event is still running. Unprecedented! We are grateful to share his comments with our readers. And wish him luck for the final round – although Romain Edouard is also a great friend who has sent us some wonderful commentary in the past.
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It all started around here. I had a small opening advantage that gradually faded away, and here I was staring at some uncertainties.30.Re3Rc131.Qb8+Kh732.Qxb5I had seen black's next move and I didn't pay much attention. It was easier to call it a bad day since it was a double round on Saturday. (Strange - in the Dubai Open they have a rest day on which the blitz is organised, and then there is a double round day). To make matters worse, I had lost to Romain Edouard in the morning round. Every time I looked at that game later, I found a new win.Nc4Okay, so White will have to part with an exchange now. However, it does not look too bad: there is a pawn, and the king is safe.33.Re1Rxe134.Qxc4Qxa335.Kg2Qc136.Qd3+Trade queens and worry about new technicalities was the first thought that crossed my mind.f537.b5Qc5There, having played quite well thus far, Pavel shows first sign of nervousness. The b-pawn has barely started moving!38.Qb3Qb6Now this is a baddie. What is the queen is doing on b6 is trying to stop promotion of a pawn.39.Bc4Re540.h4Keeping an eye on the future. I believe White has no risk now.h541.Qd3Qc542.Qb3Qb643.Qd3Qc544.Qb3Qb6Okay, repeat and take the half point. But Pavel had less time.45.Qb2!The exclamation is for creating that small little disturbance.Rc546.Qe2Qd647.f4g648.Bxe6Qc749.Qd3Qb7+50.Kh2Rxb551.Qd8With the clock ticking away, Pavel blundered here. Black still has a few ways to force a draw.Kg752.Qg8+Kf652...Kh653.Bf7The ouch moment...53.Bc41–0
1.c4Nf62.d4g63.Nc3d54.Bg5Bg75.Bxf6Bxf66.cxd5c57.dxc5Nd7 This one is one of the latest fashion in the Bg5 Grunfeld. However, after this game I think I need to analyse it more.8.Nf30-09.e3Nxc510.Nd4All this is consistent.Qa511.Bb5a612.Be2Bd7My computer likes White a lot here already, but I doubt the assessment a little.13.0-0Rac814.Rb1Na415.Ne4Bg716.Bf3Rfd817.Qb3Qb618.Qa3Nc519.Nd2Bb520.Rfc1Bxd4It was almost forced to play this.21.exd4Nd322.Rxc8Rxc823.Qxe7Qxd424.Qe3Qxe325.fxe3Ne526.Nb3Rd8?The spoiler26...Kf827.Nd4Bd328.Rd1Ke729.Kf2f5is game on, although White may still fancy his chances with an extra pawn.27.e4f5Played after a long thought. We chess players do not realize we are making mistakes, and then spend our life trying to cover them up!28.Rc1b629.Nd4fxe430.Bxe4This is what they call a HEALTHY extra pawn.Bd331.Nc6Rd632.Ne7+Kf833.Nc8Rd834.Bxd3Nxd335.Rf1+Ke836.Nxb6Nxb2Okay, it's still an extra pawn with some technical issues.37.Re1+Kf738.Re338.a4Nd339.Rd1Ne540.Rc1And White is well on top. 38...Rb839.Rf3+Ke740.Re3+Kf741.Nd7Rd842.Nb6And here I sighed in relief. It's a three fold repetition. Yuriy did not realise it!½–½
1.d4d52.c4c63.Nf3Nf64.Nc3a65.e3Bf56.Ne5Nbd77.Qb3Qc78.cxd5Nxe59.dxe5Nxd510.Nxd5cxd511.Bd2e612.Rc1Qd713.Be2Be714.Ba5Rc815.Rxc8+Qxc816.Kd20-017.Rc1Qa818.Qc3h619.a3f6What feels good in a situation when it's 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment and single time control? One hour thirty eight minutes on the clock, and your opponent is thinking... And no, I did not have that extra time. Sebastian had it! While I was thinking what went wrong in my preparation, I suddenly realised that its anyway do or die. Why worry.20.Bb4I felt kind of good playing this. I saw what was coming – I had seen the 25th move here.d421.exd4Bxb422.Qxb4fxe523.g4Get away from the e6 pawn. This was a part of calculation. Black is not worse and in fact the centralised (?!) white king in gives some hopes.Bg624.Qd6exd425.Rc7This is what I had in mind when I played Bb4. Let the king be unsafe in the middle of the board, but the rook on seventh? Isn't that good? It was down to basics here.b5The beginning of the spoiler for Black.26.Qxe6+26.f3Was probably betterBf727.Rd7A move that is hard to find over the board.e528.Qxe5Rd829.Rxd4If I could see this, I would have played it.26...Bf727.Qf5Qd5Humm, endgame now. The rook is still on the seventh. All sorts of adages related to chess were crossing the mind already.28.Bd3Qxf529.Bxf5Bc430.f3h531.h3h4Already White is looking good. Sebastian thought of generating counterplay, but it all falls flat.32.Be4Bf133.Rc5!I was really pleased with this effort.Rf634.g5Rf435.g6?!Not so good here, but I was excited.35.Rd5Bxh336.Rxd4Rf837.Bd5+I would have had to convert this into a point.Kh738.Rxh4+Kg639.Rxh3Rd840.f4Rxd5+41.Rd3Rf542.Ke335...Bxh3?35...Kf8 And I would have been left thinking about what to do. The position is different now, Black gets enough counter play to survive.36.Re5Bd737.Re7Rxe438.Rxe4h339.Rxd4Be840.Rh4Bd741.Ke3Kf842.Kf4Ke743.Kg51–0
Abhijeet has won many laurels for his country, winning 23 medals in all in various World, Asian and Commonwealth Chess Championships, in Sub Junior, Junior and Senior Category. Abhijeet became National Junior Under-19 Chess Champion at the age of 13 years and 10 days in 2002, a record unsurpassed until 2011. He got his GM title in 2007, and in 2008 he won the World Junior title and became the third Indian after V. Anand and P. Harikrishna to achieve this. After many successes in 2013 Abhijeet won the Commonwealth chess championship and ended the year on a high by winning the Al-Ain Classic open.
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 there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Vishal SareenHaving played chess and achieved the title of International Master, Vishal Sareen has hung up his boots as a player, and enjoys his life as a teacher. He works as a chess trainer, writer and consultant, and is one of the prominent coaches of the country. He is currently building the Dakshin Institute of Chess Excellence in Chennai.
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