IM Raghunandan and GM Indjic perfect at Dubai Open 2019

by Niklesh Kumar Jain
4/6/2019 – The Dubai Open has been a source of excellent opportunities for players all across the world to play in a strong open event for 21 years now. Some of the readers may remember Magnus Carlsen getting his final GM norm at one of the earlier editions of this event in 2004. This year we have 163 players with some exciting talents. After four rounds we have two leaders with a perfect 4.0/4: IM Raghunandan KS (2370) and GM Aleksandar Indjic. NIKLESH JAIN, who is present at the venue, brings you detailed report.
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From Sharjah to Dubai

After the Sharjah Masters 2019, UAE witnesses the start of another super strong event — the Dubai Open. This is the 21st edition, showing a long-standing tradition of organizing this high-quality tournament since the late 90s. Almost all of the top players in the world of chess have, at some point in their career, played at the Dubai Open!

If you look at the above image carefully, you will spot a familiar face in the background. Yes, the young boy who is standing and watching the game is none other than Magnus Carlsen, who played the Dubai Open in 2004 and achieved his final GM norm!

The road towards the Dubai Chess Club | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The Dubai Chess Club is in the shape of a rook! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The top seed of the event is GM Le Quang Liem, who is here with his wife Thanh Trúc Nguyễn | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The opening ceremony | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Le Quang Liem versus Tihana Blagojevic on the top board in round one | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The tournament has begun with a total of 163 players from 35 countries. 80 players out of 163 playing at the event are from India. There are in all 31 GMs and 24 IMs taking part in this tournament. The players are fighting for the top prize of US$ 13,000. Le Quang Liem is the only participant above the Elo of 2700.

The second seed of the tournament GM Maxim Matlakov from Russia | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Two GMs who will be fighting for the top spots in the event: Eduardo Iturrizaga (left) and Mareco Sandro (right) | Photo: Niklesh Jain

After four rounds

Four rounds have been completed and Friday was a rest day. At the end of four rounds we have two leaders. GM Aleksandar Indjic from Serbia and KS Raghunandan from India. While Indjic's performance is something we can expect from a 2592 GM, Raghunandan has been extremely impressive. With just a rating of 2370, he currently has a performance of well over 3000 Elo!

IM K.S. Raghunandan has been the surprise of the event | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Raghunandan KS started as the 56th seed, yet after four rounds he is the leader of the event with four victories. From rounds two to four he has defeated three grandmasters — GM Ahmed Adly, GM Vahap Sanal and GM Alan Pichot.

Raghunandan has used the King's Indian to score two important wins with the black pieces | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Here are all the three games played by Raghunandan. What is interesting to note, is that all of the games that he played have been fist fights, and in all of them he has come out victorious.

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,168,43054%2421---
1.d4948,59355%2434---
1.Nf3282,13556%2441---
1.c4182,40456%2442---
1.g319,72456%2427---
1.b314,32154%2427---
1.f45,91348%2377---
1.Nc33,81451%2384---
1.b41,75948%2379---
1.a31,22154%2405---
1.e31,07349%2409---
1.d395450%2378---
1.g466646%2361---
1.h444953%2374---
1.c343551%2426---
1.h328356%2419---
1.a411259%2465---
1.f39346%2435---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.c4 0-0 5.d4 c5 6.0-0 cxd4 7.Nxd4 d5 8.Na3 D73: Fianchetto Grünfeld: 5 Nf3 e5 LiveBook: 3 Games 9.Nf3 e4 10.Nd4 The position is equal. Qe7N Predecessor: 10...Nc6 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Be3 Re8 13.Bd4 Be6 14.Qa4 Qd7 15.Rfd1 Qb7 1-0 (44) Malakhov,V (2721)-Gao,R (2464) China 2010 11.b3 Rd8 12.Bb2 e3 13.f4 Nc6 14.Nxc6 bxc6 15.cxd5! Nxd5 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Qc1! Bg4 18.Nc4 Qf6 19.Ne5 Bxe2 20.Re1 Ba6 21.Qxc6 Rac8 22.Qxf6+ Nxf6 23.Rxe3 Rc2 24.Nf3 Nd5 25.Re5 Nc3 26.Re7 Ne2+ 26...Kf8!? 27.Rxa7 Ne2+ 28.Kh1 Nc1 27.Kh1 Threatens to win with Ng5. Nc1 next ...Be2 is good for Black. 28.Re1!       White is not keeping still Don't go for 28.Rxa7? Rd1+ 29.Ng1 Nd3-+ 28...Nxa2 29.Re7 Hoping for Ne5. Bc8 30.Rae1 Rd7 31.h4 Rc1 32.Kh2 Rxe1 33.Rxe1 Bb7 34.Bh3 34.Ra1= keeps the balance. Rd3 35.Rxa2 Bxf3 36.b4 34...Rd3 35.Ne5 35.Ra1 35...Rxb3 36.Rd1 36.Nc4 36...Rb2+ 37.Kg1 Nc3 38.Rd7
38...Bd5! 39.Bg4 Rb7 40.Rxb7 Bxb7-+       Endgame KBN-KBN 41.h5 41.Bd7 was called for. 41...a5       42.hxg6 hxg6 43.Nc4
43...a4! 44.Bd7 Bd5 45.Na3 Kf6 46.Kh2? 46.Bg4 46...Ke7 47.Bh3 Kd6 48.g4 Kc5 49.Bf1 Bb3 Black mates. 50.Bd3 Kb4 51.Nb1 Nxb1 52.Bxb1 a3 53.Kg3 Kc3 Precision: White = 38%, Black = 78%. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Adly,A2620Raghunandan,K23700–12019A0521st Dubai Open 20192.7
Raghunandan,K2370Sanal,V25131–02019C5021st Dubai Open 20193.14
Pichot,A2566Raghunandan,K23700–12019A4921st Dubai Open 20194.5

The other player who has 100% score at the event is Aleksandar Indjic | Photo: Niklesh Jain

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.d5 c6 8.0-0 Na6 9.Be3 Ng4 10.Bg5 f6 11.Bh4 c5 12.Ne1 Nh6 13.Nc2 Qc7 14.a3 f5 15.f3 f4 16.b4 b6 17.Nb5 Qd7 18.bxc5 bxc5 19.Rb1 Bf6 20.Bf2 g5 21.Na1 Nf7 22.Nb3 Bd8 23.Be1 h5 24.h3 Nh6 25.Na5 Bxa5 26.Bxa5 Rf6 What would you play here if you were White? 27.Kf2! The idea is to get White king away from the kingside and place it in the centre, where it will be safer! Qg7 28.Ke1 Qf8 29.Kd2 Rf7 30.Nc3 Kh8 31.Rh1 Ng8 32.Bd3 Nf6 33.Bc2 Bd7 34.Ba4 Bxa4 35.Qxa4 Qe8 36.Qb5 Qc8 37.Qa4 Kg8 38.Rb2 Rg7 39.Qc6 Ne8 40.Rhb1 Qxc6 41.dxc6 Rc8 42.Rb7 Rxc6 43.Rxg7+ Kxg7 44.Rb7+ Kf8 45.Nd5 Rc8 46.Rxa7 Nb8 47.Ne7 Rc6 48.Nxc6 Nxc6 49.Ra6 Complete victory of White's strategy. You can look at the pawn on g5. If you do not get in g5-g4 in the King's Indian, you cannot expect to win. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Indjic,A2592Nitish Belurkar23271–02019E9221st Dubai Open 20192.12

While the top board clash in round five between Raghunandan and Indjic promises to be interesting, we have 11 players on 3½/4 waiting for the leaders to slip up, so that they can claim the driver's seat. The chasing pack includes Maxim Matlakov, Uzbek talent Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Spanish GM Miguel Santos, Ukrainian former talent Yuriy Kuzubov, trying to become the first GM of Malaysia Yeoh Li Tian, fresh from an excellent performance at Sharjah Masters Shamsiddin Vokhidov, top seed Le Quang Liem, Algerian GM Bilel Bellahcene, top Indian GM Sethuraman SP and Argentinian GM Sandro Mareco.

Standings after round 4 (top 20)

Rk. Name Pts.
1 Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari 4,0
2 Indjic Aleksandar 4,0
3 Matlakov Maxim 3,5
4 Abdusattorov Nodirbek 3,5
  Santos Ruiz Miguel 3,5
6 Kuzubov Yuriy 3,5
  Yeoh Li Tian 3,5
  Vokhidov Shamsiddin 3,5
9 Le Quang Liem 3,5
  Bellahcene Bilel 3,5
11 Sethuraman S.P. 3,5
12 Mareco Sandro 3,5
13 Deepan Chakkravarthy J. 3,5
14 Sadhwani Raunak 3,0
15 Kuybokarov Temur 3,0
16 Visakh N R 3,0
17 Pichot Alan 3,0
  Sanal Vahap 3,0
19 Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo 3,0
  Debashis Das 3,0

All available games

 
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1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Bf4 Nc6 5.e3 e6 6.Nc3 D10: Slav Defence: 3 cxd5 (without early Nf3) and 3 Nc3 Bd6 7.Bxd6 Qxd6 8.Bd3 Nge7 9.f4 0-0 10.Nf3 LiveBook: 3 Games f6 11.0-0 Bd7 The position is equal. 12.Qd2N Predecessor: 12.Rc1 Be8 13.Nh4 0-1 (39) Dragun,K (2568)-Li,C (2708) Batumi 2018 12...Be8 13.Rac1 Rd8 14.a3 Na5 15.Qe2 Bg6 16.Bxg6 hxg6 17.e4 Nb3 18.Rce1 dxe4 19.Qxe4 Nxd4 20.Nxd4 Qxd4+ 21.Qxd4 Rxd4 22.Rxe6 Nc6 23.g3 Rfd8 24.Rf2 Kf7 25.Re4 Rd3 26.Kf1 Nd4 27.Re1 Nf3 28.Rc1 Nd2+ 29.Kg2 Nc4 30.Kg1 a6 31.Re2 b5 32.Kf2 R3d4 33.Rcc2 R8d7 34.Rc1 Nd2 35.Rd1 f5 36.Kg2! Nc4 37.Rxd4 Rxd4=       Endgame KRN-KRN 38.Kf2 Kf6 39.Rc2 g5 40.fxg5+ Kxg5 41.a4 b4 42.Ne2 Re4 43.Nf4 Kh6 44.b3 Ne5 45.Re2 Ng4+ 46.Kf3 Ne5+ Precision: White = 72%, Black = 73%. ½–½
  • Start an analysis engine:
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Santos Ruiz,M2555Matlakov,M2692½–½2019D1021st Dubai Open 20194.1
Yeoh,L2522Kuzubov,Y2653½–½2019C4821st Dubai Open 20194.2
Indjic,A2592Kuybokarov,T25191–02019E2121st Dubai Open 20194.3
Vokhidov,S2494Abdusattorov,N2578½–½2019B5321st Dubai Open 20194.4
Pichot,A2566Raghunandan,K23700–12019A4921st Dubai Open 20194.5
Le,Q2711Vishnu Prasanna. V25151–02019C9221st Dubai Open 20194.6
Mareco,S2651Harsha Bharathakoti24971–02019B5121st Dubai Open 20194.7
Iturrizaga Bonelli,E2633Sadhwani,R2475½–½2019A1621st Dubai Open 20194.8
Sethuraman,S2624Tokhirjonova,G24271–02019C6521st Dubai Open 20194.9
Deepan Chakkravarthy J.2534Can,E25991–02019B9221st Dubai Open 20194.10
Bellahcene,B2538Assaubayeva,B23811–02019C9021st Dubai Open 20194.11
Chanda,S2521Debashis,D2538½–½2019C4221st Dubai Open 20194.12
Venkatesh,M2517Yilmaz,M2631½–½2019B2021st Dubai Open 20194.13
Adly,A2620Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasa23841–02019A0621st Dubai Open 20194.14
Tabatabaei,M2612Nitish Belurkar23271–02019C0721st Dubai Open 20194.15
Saurabh Anand2385Mchedlishvili,M2610½–½2019C1721st Dubai Open 20194.16
Aravindh,C2602Priyanka Nutakki23131–02019E0621st Dubai Open 20194.17
Quizon,D2340Ghaem Maghami,E25310–12019B2321st Dubai Open 20194.18
Sanal,V2513Sidhant,M23481–0201921st Dubai Open 20194.19
Naboka,S2327Iniyan,P25120–12019B5421st Dubai Open 20194.20
Visakh N R2509Ranaldi,L22751–02019B1921st Dubai Open 20194.21
Sindarov,J2495Kunal,M22731–02019B1221st Dubai Open 20194.22
Nguyen,A2481Poormosavi,S22601–02019D8021st Dubai Open 20194.23
Bharath Subramaniyam H2301Vignesh N R2457½–½2019B5921st Dubai Open 20194.24
Ravi,T2276Aditya Mittal24570–12019B2221st Dubai Open 20194.25
Mullick,R2275Darini,P2455½–½2019B9021st Dubai Open 20194.26
Divya Deshmukh2432Abelgas,R2256½–½2019B1321st Dubai Open 20194.27
Laxman,R2428Raahul V S22521–02019D1121st Dubai Open 20194.28
Mendonca,L2427Chekh Adm Khedr,A21461–02019A4021st Dubai Open 20194.29
Akash G2414Franco Valencia,A21411–02019C6821st Dubai Open 20194.30
Pranav Vijay2265Sundararajan,K24131–02019C4821st Dubai Open 20194.31
Panda Sambit2218Dimakiling,O2404½–½2019A5321st Dubai Open 20194.32
Gandhi,A2202Raja Rithvik R2391½–½2019B9021st Dubai Open 20194.33
Tissir,M2386Mohammed,D20061–02019A0521st Dubai Open 20194.34
Hedman,E2385Ahmad,A17631–02019E9721st Dubai Open 20194.35
Zarkovic,M2187Shyaamnikhil P24290–12019B9021st Dubai Open 20194.36
Saif,M2019Haug,J24240–12019C5521st Dubai Open 20194.37
Manush Shah2405Jeet,J2219½–½2019D3021st Dubai Open 20194.38

Additional photos

The fighting GM from Iran, Amin Tabatabaei is on 3.0/4 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Bilel Bellahance from Algeria is on 3½/4 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

One of world's youngest GMs Javokhir Sindarov is on 3.0/4 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

We mentioned in our April ratings report about this 13-year-old from India who now has an Elo of 2432! Meet Divya Deshmukh, the top under-14 girl player in the world | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The man who put Iranian chess on the world map — GM Ghaem Maghami | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The famous chess painting when you enter the Dubai Chess Club. A lot of people recognize the Dubai Chess Club with just this painting! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The trophy that will be awarded to the winner of the event | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Dubai Blitz 2019

On the rest day, the traditional Dubai Blitz event was held. Players usually enjoy playing the blitz because an entire day has been specially dedicated for this event. As a result, you can see many of the top GMs taking part. The tournament is conducted smoothly without any delays and glitches and ends in four hours. This year the event was won by GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili of Georgia. 

Mchedlishvili after winning the blitz tournament | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The prize winners along with the organizers | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Links

FIDE Instructor Niklesh Kumar Jain Jain is an international chess player who has participated in tournaments in almost in 20 different countries, winning the international tournament in Sri Lanka in 2010. He also worked for a television network as an anchor and news writer for two years and reported in Hindi during World Chess Championship 2013 and 2014.

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