The Muscat Nights International Chess Championship was held from 15 to 23 January at the Al Amal Sport Complex in Muscat, the capital and largest city of Oman. Organised by the Oman Chess Committee, the festival featured two parallel classical open tournaments and a blitz event staged amid the programme.
Muscat's metropolitan area spans roughly 6,500 square kilometres and is divided into six wilayat (provinces). Historically known as a trading port linking East and West since the early centuries of the Common Era, the city has been ruled by local tribes as well as foreign powers, including the Persians, the Portuguese Empire and the Ottoman Empire. From 1970, following the accession of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Muscat underwent rapid infrastructural expansion and developed into a diverse, economically active urban centre.
Sultan Qaboos Street in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman | Photo: Alexey Komarov
Both Open A (for players rated 2000 and above) and Open B (for lower-rated participants) were nine-round Swiss tournaments. The time control in the classical events was 90 minutes for the game plus a 30-second increment per move. After round five of the classical schedule, an 11-round blitz tournament was organised as an additional competition within the championship.
Open A attracted a strong international field. The top four seeds were all from India: Pranesh Munirethinam, Leon Luke Mendonca, Panneerselvam Iniyan and Karthik Venkataraman. They were followed in the starting list by Ahmed Adly of Egypt and Bulgaria's Arkadij Naiditsch.
After eight rounds, the tournament lead was shared by five players on 6/8: Pranesh, Mendonca, Naiditsch, Russian GM Mikhail Mozharov and Indian IM Mayank Chakraborty. In the final round, all five co-leaders drew their games. This allowed Adly to catch up, as he scored a win over Turkish IM Adar Tarhan. Consequently, six players finished tied for first place on 6½/9.
The title was decided according to tiebreak criteria, with Mendonca declared champion on Buchholz Cut-1. Pranesh and Naiditsch completed the podium places. Mendonca and Pranesh both went through the event undefeated, while Naiditsch's sole loss came in round three against Iranian FM Radin Yadegar.
The duel of top seeds - Mendonca v. Pranesh - ended in a 54-move draw in the tournament's final round | Photo: Oman Chess Committee
One of the key games of the tournament occurred in the penultimate round. In that encounter, Mendonca was in serious difficulty against Kazakhstani GM Alisher Suleymenov (who famously defeated Magnus Carlsen at the 2023 Qatar Masters), but managed to survive a lost position before eventually turning the tables and securing the full point.
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2615 | 6,5 | 0 | |
| 2 | GM | Pranesh, M | 2628 | 6,5 | 0 | |
| 3 | GM | Naiditsch, Arkadij | 2574 | 6,5 | 0 | |
| 4 | GM | Mozharov, Mikhail | 2524 | 6,5 | 0 | |
| 5 | IM | Mayank, Chakraborty | 2468 | 6,5 | 0 | |
| 6 | GM | Adly, Ahmed | 2583 | 6,5 | 0 | |
| 7 | FM | Yadegar, Radin | 2433 | 6 | 0 | |
| 8 | IM | Akbas, Umut Ata | 2464 | 6 | 0 | |
| 9 | GM | Iniyan, Pa | 2595 | 6 | 0 | |
| 10 | GM | Suleymenov, Alisher | 2505 | 6 | 0 | |
| 11 | IM | Risteski, Emil | 2406 | 6 | 0 | |
| 12 | IM | Poormosavi, Seyed Kian | 2393 | 6 | 0 | |
| 13 | GM | Karthik, Venkataraman | 2595 | 6 | 0 | |
| 14 | GM | Stupak, Kirill | 2411 | 6 | 0 | |
| 15 | IM | Borgaonkar, Akshay | 2397 | 6 | 0 | |
| 16 | IM | Tarhan, Adar | 2452 | 5,5 | 0 | |
| 17 | GM | Fawzy, Adham | 2462 | 5,5 | 0 | |
| 18 | FM | Rogov, Matfey | 2368 | 5,5 | 0 | |
| 19 | IM | Labib, Ibrahim Hasan | 2409 | 5,5 | 0 | |
| 20 | GM | Kandil, Adham | 2343 | 5,5 | 0 | |
| 21 | IM | Jacobson, Aaron | 2371 | 5,5 | 0 | |
| 22 | AFM | Vismay, Sachar | 2051 | 5,5 | 0 | |
| 23 | FM | Abbasi Abeluie, Mohammad Mehdi | 2241 | 5 | 0 | |
| 24 | FM | Chekh Adm Khedr, Aram | 2139 | 5 | 0 | |
| 25 | IM | Anuj, Shrivatri | 2481 | 5 | 0 |
| Advertising |
