16th Dubai Open Chess ChampionshipIt 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. |
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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
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB2 | TB3 | |
| 1 | 3 | GM | Edouard Romain | FRA | 2670 | 7.0 | 40.5 | 37.0 |
| 2 | 12 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet | IND | 2630 | 6.5 | 39.5 | 37.0 |
| 3 | 16 | GM | Stevic Hrvoje | CRO | 2607 | 6.0 | 40.5 | 37.0 |
| 4 | 1 | GM | Korobov Anton | UKR | 2698 | 6.0 | 40.5 | 36.5 |
| 5 | 15 | GM | Rakhmanov Aleksandr | RUS | 2610 | 6.0 | 39.0 | 35.5 |
| 6 | 8 | GM | Kuzubov Yuriy | UKR | 2639 | 6.0 | 38.5 | 35.5 |
| 7 | 10 | GM | Iturrizaga Eduardo | VEN | 2635 | 6.0 | 38.5 | 35.5 |
| 8 | 7 | GM | Jones Gawain C B | ENG | 2650 | 6.0 | 34.5 | 31.5 |
| 9 | 35 | GM | Ismagambetov Anuar | KAZ | 2493 | 5.5 | 43.0 | 39.0 |
| 10 | 17 | GM | Andriasian Zaven | ARM | 2603 | 5.5 | 40.5 | 37.5 |
| 11 | 24 | GM | Brkic Ante | CRO | 2568 | 5.5 | 39.5 | 37.0 |
| 12 | 27 | GM | Ghaem Maghami Ehsan | IRI | 2556 | 5.5 | 39.5 | 36.5 |
| 13 | 4 | GM | Istratescu Andrei | FRA | 2667 | 5.5 | 39.0 | 35.0 |
| 14 | 6 | GM | Balogh Csaba | HUN | 2656 | 5.5 | 38.5 | 35.0 |
| 15 | 14 | GM | Petrosian Tigran L. | ARM | 2627 | 5.5 | 38.5 | 34.5 |
| 16 | 39 | GM | Shyam Sundar M. | IND | 2481 | 5.5 | 38.0 | 35.5 |
| 17 | 22 | GM | Bogner Sebastian | SUI | 2587 | 5.5 | 38.0 | 35.0 |
| 18 | 11 | GM | Solak Dragan | TUR | 2635 | 5.5 | 38.0 | 34.0 |
| 19 | 9 | GM | Amin Bassem | EGY | 2637 | 5.5 | 37.5 | 34.5 |
| 54 | IM | Ahmadinia Ebrahim | IRI | 2353 | 5.5 | 37.5 | 34.5 | |
| 21 | 28 | GM | Jankovic Alojzije | CRO | 2554 | 5.5 | 37.5 | 34.0 |
| 22 | 13 | GM | Mchedlishvili Mikheil | GEO | 2628 | 5.5 | 36.0 | 32.5 |
| 23 | 21 | GM | Lalith Babu M.R. | IND | 2594 | 5.5 | 35.5 | 32.5 |
| 24 | 36 | GM | Carlsson Pontus | SWE | 2486 | 5.5 | 35.0 | 32.0 |
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.
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.
Visit Abhijeet's new web site and blog
Round seven: Dubai Open Chess Championship 2014
Round eight: Dubai Open Chess Championship 2014
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