Strong lineup for Al Ain Classic in December

Al Ain Classic 22nd to 30th December

Strong lineup for Al Ain Classic in December

By Prathamesh Mokal

Of all the current and former elite players in the world, the one who has come closest to being the successor of former World Champion Mikhail Tal’s brilliant attacking style of play is Alexei Shirov. It is not a very big surprise, since in his youth Shirov studied under the guidance of fellow Latvian genius Tal.

Shirov has recorded a number of DVDs in the ChessBase studio

You can browse through the excellent Shirov DVDs here

Shirov has been among the elite players since the early 1990’s. He was ranked world number four in 1998. He is the winner of numerous international tournaments: Biel (1991), Ter Apel 1997, Monte Carlo (1998), Mérida (2000), Paul Keres Memorial Tournament in Tallinn (2004, 2005, 2011), M-Tel Masters (2009), Shanghai grand Slam Masters (2010), just to name a few. He has won some of the above tournaments even in the presence of the then World Champions. Shirov is a very well-regarded author and has written two books describing his best (and most brilliant!) games: Fire on Board and Fire on Board – Part 2.

Move of the Century?

Hearing Shirov’s name immediately brought to my mind the following famous position from one of his games. It is said that Shirov’s move inspired the British Chess Magazine to start a search for the 'Most Amazing Move' of all time.

Topalov-Shirov, Linares 1998

Position after 47.Kg1, Black to play, try to find the best plan for Black to convert his
material advantage. Remember the drawing tendencies of opposite coloured bishops.

It is not easy for Black to win this ending in the usual way because the bishop on c3 holds both the a-pawn and the d-pawn on the same diagonal. Moreover one can also note that the a-pawn has the promotion square of the 'wrong' colour. Therefore White will always have the idea of dissolving his two pawns and bishop for Black's d-f-g pawns while he gets his king to a1 to make a theoretical draw.

It is not every day that one can find a move like this, but with an inherent romantic style of play one is bound to produce thrilling chess masterpieces every once in a while. There is therefore no doubt, that with the participation of Shirov the excitement in the tournament is bound to increase manifold. Looking forward to some fireworks on the board!

There are many other strong grandmasters playing in Al Ain. Let us make note of a few among them.

Former World Junior Bronze medallist and 2013 Ukrainian champion
Yuriy Kryvoruchko (2710) is second on the list according to the October 2015 ratings

Igor Kovalenko (2700), Latvian Champion in 2013 and 2014, is the third seed.

Alexander Areshchenko of Ukraine (2672) is seeded fourth. He is former World Youth U-14 Champion (2000) and has won the Ukrainian Championship in 2005.

Sergei Zhigalko of Belarus (2656) is fifth on the list. Silver medallist at the
World Junior 2009, he won the 2012 and 2013 Belarusian Championships.

Strong Ukrainian GMs who participated in the 2014 edition will be back this year: Alexander Kovchan (2591), Vladimir Onischuk (2612), Mihailo Oleksienko (2628), Martyn Kravtsiv (2621) and Yuriy Kryvoruchko (2710)

Former World Junior bronze medallist and three times winner of the African Individual Championships
grandmaster Amin Bassem (2636) will lead the Egyptian challenge [photo from World Cup 2015 website]

Aleksandr Rakhmanov (2637), winner of 2013 Dubai Open and
numerous strong blitz tournaments, will lead the Russian challenge.

Armenian grandmaster Tigran Petrosian (2625) has confirmed his entry. Above he is seen receiving the runner-up prize of the 2014 Al Ain Classic from Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Bin Shakbooth Al-Nahyan. On the left is Saif Salem Lekhraibani Alnuaimi, the Secretary general of the Al Ain Chess and Culture Club and Head of the Organising Committee.

Romain Edouard (2636) will lead the French challenge. He has won numerous open
tournaments including the Dubai Open 2014. He tied for first in the 2015 World Open.

Gadir Guseinov (2636) of Azerbaijan will be among the players to watch out for. At the Baku
World Cup 2015 Gadir brought down the strong Czech grandmaster David Navara in the second round.

Young and upcoming grandmasters Diptayan Ghosh (2550)
and Vaibhav Suri (2561) will head the Indian challenge this year

There are many more reputed grandmasters and masters from various nationalities participating, all with superb performances to their name. You can find their names in the players list below.

Let us have a look at the graphical representation of the entries, Federation wise.

Armenia (15) has so far the highest number of participants for the Al Ain Classic 2015, followed by India (13) and Ukraine (13). Players from twenty-six countries have already registered.

Under the watchful eyes of Chief Arbiter Ashot Var and Tournament Director/International
Organizer Tarek Al Taher the event is likely to be a smooth and pleasant experience

It is always ideal for the players to stay and play in the same place. Better the conditions, higher is the quality of play. The tournament organizers have persisted with the wonderful hotel Hili Raayhan by Rotana for this event.

The five star Hotel Hili Raayhan by Rotana Al-Ain is the venue for the tournament. According to the participants of the previous edition of the Classic, the food and hospitality of this hotel is something to really look forward to!

There are many places to see in Al Ain. My favourite is the winding road
of the second tallest mountain in the United Arab Emirates, Jebel Hafeet!

Most of the pictures above were taken by Amruta Mokal (sister of the author of this article), while some of them are from the Al Ain tournament officials.

Information about the schedule, prizes, entry fees and other details of the tournament can be found in previous invitation report here: Al Ain Classic in December 2015. Here the main points:

Contacts

• For all inquiries and requests: alainclassic2015@gmail.com
• Tournament Director: Tariq Al Taher Mobile: +971-50-6437008
• Transport; Mr. Louie Al Sabbah – Mobile: +971-50-6656644
• Accountant – Mr. Esam Amer - +971-50-6810075
• General Coordinator – Ms. Basma Mustafa - +971-50-9973275
• Alain chess club +971-37633387
• Follow on YouTube Alain Classics
• Twitter handle: @alain_classic
• For more information on the tournament, such as entry fee and the procedure for Visa applications see also the tournament invitation (PDF).

Links Official tournament site – Alain Classics on Youtube – Twitter handle: @alain_classic All games in PGN The games will be 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 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.