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Relieved after getting our visas, on 22nd of August, my wife Amruta and I, who had received a kind invitation, headed towards the United Arab Emirates with great excitement – to take part in the to play in the 2015 Abu Dhabi Masters, the second strongest open tournament in Asia (first is Qatar). It’s very rare that you get see top players like Almasi, Kryvoruchko, Rapport, Jobava and many others in action.
In spite of being nestled in the Arabian Desert, it is mind-boggling to see how well-developed UAE is!
In order to play in the event you could take a direct flight to Abu Dhabi or reach Dubai or Sharjah. Both those cities are approximately 150 kilometers away from Abu Dhabi, and the organizers provide transport from all the three airports. The journey from Dubai to Abu Dhabi took us around two hours and was quite comfortable.
It is a wonderful feeling when the organizers are there to receive you right on time at the airport
Abu Dhabi lies in the T shaped-island in the Persian Gulf. And yes you read it right! The temperature in the afternoons is as high as 45 degrees! But if you are going to travel in an air conditioned automobile and then stay in air conditioned hotel which is also the venue of the tournament, you won’t really have to interact with this punishing climate.
All invited players and grandmasters are given accommodation in the five-star
Sofitel Abu Dhabi Corniche, the official hotel and venue for the Abu Dhabi Masters.
The room is spacious and comfortable and when you open the curtains …
… this is what awaits you!
The organizers make great use of the television in the rooms to send updates and reminders to players in form of personalized messages like this one which says, “We would like to inform you that your technical meeting will be tomorrow at 12 in Crystal Ballroom, P2 level.”
Choosing the perfect cereal for your breakfast is as tricky as deciding on the right opening for the game!
It was for the first time in my life that I tasted Pitaya or dragon fruit (in the foreground)
The opening ceremony took place at 6 p.m. in the ballroom on the August 23, with a fast paced LED show
And on the spot live painting of Khalifa bin Zahyad Al Nahyan
who is the President of UAE and the ruler of Abu Dhabi
An attendant provides you with a cup of Arabic tea
13 and a half hour flight journey from the United States of America and still in great spirits:
Samuel Shankland at the inauguration (with guess who sitting to his left – solution below)
"And his back rank was totally undefended!" A live wire on and off the board,
Baadur Jobava tells his stories as GMs Debashis Das and Abhijeet Gupta listen in a state of trance!
GM Alexander Kovchan with his wife
The tournament has one game each day except on 25th August which has double rounds. There is a rest day on the 28th. The first round began a little late, mainly because many of the players who had confirmed their entries did not show up. The arbiter decided against changing the pairing and there were as many as ten walkovers in the first round.
Abhishek Kelkar is given the "bad news" that his opponent and the top seed of the event
Igor Kovalenko is not going to turn up. Kovalenko’s non-appearance makes...
... Zoltan Almasi the top seed and the only 2700 player in the event
Second seeded Yuriy Kryvoruchko played a model game with his knights in the first round.
World’s greatest experts on unorthodox play captured in one frame – Baadur Jobava, Richard Rapport
When the opponent makes an early g-pawn push, Vladimir Akopian shows the best way
to react – keep your cool, drink a cup of tea and yeah, play in the center!
Completely focused and determined – Samuel Shankland
"Oh dear, the flag is wrong!" The crosses seem to indicate that Gawain Jones is playing
for Georgia instead of England! We want to stress that this is not a case of a federation change!
Did you guess right (who was sitting next to Shankland at the opening ceremony)?
It was Nils Grandelius, from whom you can expect a new look in almost every tournament.
The photographer of this report, Amruta Mokal, and WGM Soumya
Swaminathan posing in the Instagram booth outside the playing hall
Chess is everywhere – on the walls, on sofas and in the hearts of everyone at the 22nd Abu Dhabi Open
| Bo. | No. | Ti. | Name | Rtg |
Res.
|
Ti. | Name | Rtg | No. |
| 1 | 66 | Abhishek Kelkar | 2400 |
+--
|
GM | Kovalenko Igor | 2702 | 1 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | Almasi Zoltan | 2700 |
1-0
|
FM | Rohan Ahuja | 2389 | 68 |
| 3 | 69 | IM | Gevorgyan David | 2374 |
0-1
|
GM | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | 2697 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 | GM | Rapport Richard | 2671 |
1-0
|
Kulkarni Rakesh | 2368 | 70 | |
| 5 | 71 | FM | Salih Akar Ali Salih | 2359 |
- - +
|
GM | Jobava Baadur | 2664 | 5 |
| 6 | 6 | GM | Sjugirov Sanan | 2664 |
1-0
|
IM | Tissir Mohamed | 2351 | 72 |
| 7 | 73 | FM | Nuber Blasius | 2339 |
½-½
|
GM | Areshchenko Alex. | 2661 | 7 |
| 8 | 8 | GM | Shankland Samuel | 2655 |
1-0
|
FM | Kowsarinia Amir | 2332 | 74 |
| 9 | 75 | FM | Oganisian Roman | 2328 |
0-1
|
GM | Akopian Vladimir | 2647 | 9 |
| 10 | 10 | GM | Jones Gawain C B | 2647 |
1-0
|
WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2325 | 76 |
| 11 | 77 | CM | Asadli Vugar | 2324 |
0-1
|
GM | Kuzubov Yuriy | 2638 | 11 |
| 12 | 12 | GM | Grandelius Nils | 2628 |
1-0
|
FM | Mansour Sameer | 2292 | 79 |
| 13 | 80 | Firouzja Alireza | 2277 |
--+
|
GM | Vovk Yuri | 2624 | 14 | |
| 14 | 15 | GM | Petrosian Tigran L. | 2623 |
1-0
|
WIM | Severina Maria | 2276 | 81 |
| 15 | 82 | FM | Mahdavirad Mehdi | 2274 |
0-1
|
GM | Rakhmanov Aleksandr | 2620 | 16 |
| 16 | 17 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet | 2619 |
1-0
|
Fendereski Nima | 2268 | 83 | |
| 17 | 84 | IM | Heydarli Kanan | 2256 |
½-½
|
GM | Onischuk Vladimir | 2618 | 18 |
| 18 | 19 | GM | Swiercz Dariusz | 2617 |
1-0
|
Antonio Viani D'cunha | 2255 | 85 | |
| 19 | 86 | FM | Saleh Nabil | 2249 |
0-1
|
GM | Ghaem Maghami Ehsan | 2609 | 20 |
| 20 | 21 | GM | Kovchan Alexander | 2605 |
1-0
|
Raja Harshit | 2247 | 87 |
| Bo. | No. | Ti. | Name | Rtg | Res. | Ti. | Name | Rtg | No. |
| 1 | 35 | GM | Belous Vladimir | 2566 | GM | Almasi Zoltan | 2700 | 2 | |
| 2 | 3 | GM | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | 2697 | GM | Vaibhav Suri | 2552 | 37 | |
| 3 | 40 | Predke Alexandr | 2548 | GM | Rapport Richard | 2671 | 4 | ||
| 4 | 5 | GM | Jobava Baadur | 2664 | GM | Horvath Adam | 2540 | 43 | |
| 5 | 42 | GM | Timofeev Artyom | 2542 | GM | Sjugirov Sanan | 2664 | 6 | |
| 6 | 44 | GM | Vakhidov Jahongir | 2525 | GM | Shankland Samuel L | 2655 | 8 | |
| 7 | 9 | GM | Akopian Vladimir | 2647 | GM | Pakleza Zbigniew | 2520 | 45 | |
| 8 | 46 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2509 | GM | Jones Gawain C B | 2647 | 10 | |
| 9 | 11 | GM | Kuzubov Yuriy | 2638 | GM | Debashis Das | 2489 | 47 | |
| 10 | 48 | IM | Sadzikowski Daniel | 2480 | GM | Grandelius Nils | 2628 | 12 | |
| 11 | 14 | GM | Vovk Yuri | 2624 | IM | Ezat Mohamed | 2476 | 49 | |
| 12 | 53 | IM | Pascua Haridas | 2447 | GM | Petrosian Tigran L. | 2623 | 15 | |
| 13 | 16 | GM | Rakhmanov Aleksandr | 2620 | IM | Padmini Rout | 2444 | 54 | |
| 14 | 55 | GM | Czebe Attila | 2439 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet | 2619 | 17 | |
| 15 | 57 | IM | Yagubi Asif | 2431 | GM | Swiercz Dariusz | 2617 | 19 | |
| 16 | 20 | GM | Ghaem Maghami Ehsan | 2609 | Vignesh N R | 2430 | 58 | ||
| 17 | 59 | Visakh N R | 2411 | GM | Kovchan Alexander | 2605 | 21 | ||
| 18 | 22 | GM | Prohaszka Peter | 2602 | IM | Karavade Eesha | 2409 | 60 | |
| 19 | 61 | IM | Asgarizadeh Ahmad | 2407 | GM | Papp Gabor | 2601 | 23 | |
| 20 | 24 | GM | Kravtsiv Martyn | 2599 | IM | Nezad Husein Aziz | 2404 | 62 |
Pictures by Amruta Mokal
| ChessBase is providing detailed coverage of the Abu Dhabi Masters 2015. The games are being 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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