Nigalidze is Al Ain Classic champion!

Gaioz Nigalidze is the Al Ain Classic champion!

Report from the Gulf by Sagar Shah

It is not every day that you see the 28th seed of a tournament winning it. And even rarer when there are 17 players rated above 2600. For many it might seem like an impossible dream, but not for a players who is ambitious and dedicates eight hours of his day religiously to perfecting his art. GM Gaioz Nigalidze is the man of the moment. After winning the Georgian Championships consecutively in 2013 and 2014, he capped off a wonderful year by winning the Al Ain Classic.

The closing ceremony was short and to the point

Many dignitaries attended the ceremony

The video shown at the closing ceremony to the players – it is well worth watching!

Gaioz Nigalidze receives the champion’s trophy at the hands of Sheikh Sultan Bin Shakhboot

Gaioz, who wpm the Georgian Championships consecutively in 2013 and 2014, scored a healthy 7.0/9 and was tied for the top spot with three more players: Tigran Petrosian, Vladimir Onischuk and Sergei Zhigalko. He was ajudged the champion on the basis of a superior tie-break. His rating performance was a hefty 2763 and he gained 30 Elo points from the tournament.

Gaioz (2536) went home richer by $11,000.

After the prize-giving ceremony, I managed to conduct a short interview of this 25-year-old rising Georgian talent. Here are excerpts:

Sagar Shah: How does it feel to win this tournament?

Gaioz Nigalidze: This is the first time I have won such a big event! It feels crazy!

SS: What was your expectation when you came to this tournament?

GN: I just wanted to play good chess.

SS: What were the turning points of the tournament?

GN: I was a little lucky in two games of the event. One was against Abhijeet Gupta and the other against Yuri Kuzubov.

SS: The game against Kuzubov was a delight for the viewers. You unleashed a novelty in a well-known position which had already appeared in 300 games. Take us through your thought process?

GN: My game against Kuzubov was the best one in the tournament. I was leading with a score of 4.5/5 and it was the crucial encounter. I saw that if White was allowed to play Bf3, it would give him control over the position. Hence, I decided to complicate play by changing the character of the game. I found Nxe4 over the board. It was one of those cases where thinking with your own brain is better than pregame preparation. I was able to find this interesting idea which otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to if I was prepared. The resulting position was slightly advantageous for White. Although I must add that it was easier to make moves with the black pieces as they were quite natural. (You can find the annotated game over here).

SS: What was the schedule that you were following during the tournament?

GN: I and my room-mate, Mikheil Mchedlishivili, were following the same schedule every day. We would wake up, have our breakfast, prepare for three to four hours before the game and then do some physical activity like working out in the gym or in the pool after the game.

The gymnasium of the hotel was well equipped and used by many players

SS: You became a GM in 2014, the Georgian champion consecutively in 2013 and 2014. How did you bring about this sudden improvement in your play?

GN: In the past year I had no other distractions, so I decided to devote my time completely to chess. I did not have a trainer or training partner. I was working all alone but consistently for seven to eight hours every day. I think this is the main reason behind my recent successes. And thanks to that I am now a fulltime professional chess player.

SS: How did it feel when you were paired against your room-mate (Mchedlishivili) in the last round?

Roommates: Mikheil Mchedlishivili and Gaioz Nigalidze

GN: Well, what to do? This is how it was. I was fighting for something big.

SS: What’s next on your agenda?

GN: I will be playing the Georgian Championship in January 2015.

SS: I wish you all the best and hope you score a hat-trick at the Georgian Championships!

GN: Thank you.

Tigran Petrosian vs Gaioz Nigalidze in the eighth round (1-0)

The only person to beat the champion of the tournament was Tigran Petrosian. He remained unbeaten in the event and scored 7.0/9, finishing second. One of the key features behind Petrosian’s success was his simply amazing endgame technique. His patience was immense and he would wait for his opponents to make mistakes in seemingly equal positions. Here is one of his fine endgame victories. Please pay attention to his unambitious opening choice and how he was aiming for just an equal position from which he could outplay his opponent.

Showing technical brilliance just like his namesake, ninth World Champion Tigran Petrosian

23-year-old Vladimir Onischuk (2614) was tactically alert in all his games, and
with wins over strong players like Parligras, Grover and Volkov, he finished third

Here is a game that shows a little combination by the Ukrainian player:

Slimmest players of the event?! Amruta Mokal (photographer)
with GM Sergei Zhigalko,who finished fourth

Sergei Zhigalko from Belarus also remained unbeaten with a score of 7.0/9. He finished off the tournament with a strong win over Anand’s second Sandipan Chanda.

Vishy Anand’s second and strong grandmaster Sandipan Chanda

Top seeded Yuriy Kryvoruchko, above with his wife WGM Vita Kryvoruchko, finished fifth

Top final ranking (after nine rounds)

Rk.	SNo	Ti.	Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	rtg+/-
1	28	GM	Nigalidze Gaioz	GEO	2536	7.0	51.5	40.75	2617	29.6
2	6	GM	Petrosian Tigran L.	ARM	2651	7.0	50.0	39.00	2572	12.4
3	16	GM	Onischuk Vladimir	UKR	2614	7.0	49.0	37.25	2557	15.1
4	3	GM	Zhigalko Sergei	BLR	2672	7.0	46.5	35.75	2557	8.6
5	1	GM	Kryvoruchko Yuriy	UKR	2688	6.5	52.0	36.50	2590	5.4
6	4	GM	Areshchenko Alexander	UKR	2661	6.5	45.5	33.00	2513	0.3
7	10	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	IND	2632	6.5	44.5	33.50	2454	-2.2
8	12	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2625	6.5	44.5	31.50	2521	4.8
9	13	GM	Oleksienko Mikhailo	UKR	2621	6.5	44.5	31.00	2558	9.1
10	21	GM	Parligras Mircea-Emilian	ROU	2580	6.5	42.5	32.00	2444	2.3
11	22	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	ARM	2580	6.5	42.5	31.00	2413	-0.4
12	15	GM	Pashikian Arman	ARM	2617	6.5	40.0	31.75	2432	-2.9
13	2	GM	Kuzubov Yuriy	UKR	2681	6.0	48.0	32.00	2542	-3.9
14	34	GM	Grover Sahaj	IND	2505	6.0	46.5	31.25	2553	16.1
15	8	GM	Shankland Samuel L	USA	2642	6.0	46.5	31.25	2525	-1.6
16	33	GM	Abasov Nijat	AZE	2509	6.0	46.0	30.00	2596	20.4
17	18	GM	Sandipan Chanda	IND	2599	6.0	45.5	32.00	2481	-1.0
18	23	GM	Kovchan Alexander	UKR	2577	6.0	45.0	31.50	2455	-1.1
19	19	GM	Volkov Sergey	RUS	2599	6.0	44.5	30.50	2476	-1.6
20	11	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil	GEO	2625	6.0	44.0	30.75	2430	-7.9
21	20	GM	Gopal G.N.	IND	2580	6.0	43.5	29.50	2526	5.5
22	36	GM	Ankit R. Rajpara	IND	2494	6.0	43.5	29.25	2399	1.1
23	37	GM	Bajarani Ulvi	AZE	2494	6.0	43.0	29.50	2373	0.4
24	30	GM	Moskalenko Viktor	ESP	2528	6.0	42.0	26.75	2378	-5.3
25	63	IM	Lodhi Mahmood	PAK	2328	6.0	41.0	26.75	2383	16.8
26	5	GM	Mamedov Rauf	AZE	2658	6.0	40.5	29.00	2395	-13.4
27	48	IM	Petrosyan Manuel	ARM	2407	6.0	39.0	26.75	2346	6.2

• Results and rankings of all 150 players

The first and the second prize for the best women players went to
Eesha Karavade (right) and Atousa Pourkashiyan respectively

There was a special prize for the best score sheets. Prior to the tournament I was wondering how the winner of this prize would be selected. The organizers carefully went through the score-sheets of all the rounds and found two worthy candidates.

IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman (left) and Rucha Pujari had the best handwriting in the Al Ain Classic!

The Romanians: Mircea Emilian Parligras and the recently married couple Constantin and Mirela Lupulescu

Eight Armenians took part in the event. Some of them are seen here (from left clockwise): GM Levon Babujian, IM Manuel Petrosyan, GM Tigran Petrosian, GM Sergei Zhigalko (BLR), GM Arman Pashikian, GM Ter-Sahakyan Samvel, GM Sergey Volkov (RUS), chief arbiter Ashot Vardapetyan and GM Hovik Hayrapetyan.

Eleven Ukrainians came to Al Ain: WIM Irina Andrenko, GM Andrey Baryshpolets, GM Alexander Kovchan, GM Mikhailo Oleksienko, GM Vladimir Onischuk, GM Martyn Kravtsiv, GM Alexander Areshchenko and GM Eldar Gasanov

Azerbaijan sent a huge squad of 23 players. In the picture above we see WGM Gulnar Mammadova,
WIM Khayala Abdulla, GM Nijat Abasov, Narmin Soyunlu and WFM Narmin Khalafova

But as is usually the case in terms of sheer quantum Team India was the winner with 31 participants! Above in the front row are Akash Thakur, WGM Soumya Swaminathan, GM Abhijeet Gupta, IM Sagar Shah, Amruta Mokal; in the back row: IM S. Vijayalakshmi, IM Eesha Karavade, GM Deep Sengupta, GM Vidit Gujrathi, GM Vishnu Prasanna, GM Shyam Sundar, GM Arun Prasad, GM G. N. Gopal

There is one little story about two Indian players which I must tell. Both of them were in the joint second position in the tournament after seven rounds, with 5.0/7.

They were GM Vidit Gujrathi (2625) and GM Deep Sengupta (2566). While they fought hard in the tournament, and also against each other in the eighth round, both of them were thanking their lucky stars that they were alive and well. The reason?

Just before they left for the airport from Kerala, India, after finishing the Indian National Premier Championships to catch their flight to Dubai, they met with an accident. Their driver had dozed off and the car had slammed into the wall on the side of the road. As you can see in the picture above, it was badly damaged. Both the players were injured and taken to the hospital. The injuries however were not so serious. Both players were discharged in an hour and they limped their way to catch the flight to Dubai to play in the Al Ain Classic!

The 3rd Al Ain Classic 2014 came to an end on 26th December 2014 and I go back home with some very nice memories from the tournament.

The hotel staff of the Hili Rayhaan hung a Christmas sock outside the doors of every chess player. The sock contained little gifts like fruits, nuts, chocolates and cookies! Its little gestures like these that make your stay truly a memorable one!

The organizers and their team (in the picture above: Sonia Lalaouna, Mariyam Dad, Fatima Algelda) must be applauded for making the third Al Ain Classic 2014 a grand success. I definitely intend to back there next year!

Game analysis of rounds seven and eight by GM Dmitry Komarov

All pictures by Amruta Mokal

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Links Official tournament site All games in PGN 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 and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.