England’s Grandmaster (GM) Gawain Jones claimed the Dubai Open Chess Tournament – Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Cup after a masterful performance in Tuesday night’s final round at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. Jones, who also won the Dubai Open Blitz Cup last Friday, outplayed Russia’s GM Boris Savchenko to finish the tournament undefeated with 7.5 points on six wins and three draws.
Dubai Chess Open LIVE games/ Dubai Chess Open Youtube Channel
Last round’s duel GM Gawain Jones – GM Boris Savchenko
Armenia’s GM Vladimir Akopian likewise played an inspired game in defeating Georgia’s GM Levan Pantsulaia to match Jones’ final tally, but the Englishman was awarded the championship after posting a superior tiebreak scorer. Akopian, who also finished the tournament undefeated, settled for the runner-up prize.
Jones received the Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Cup and the US$ 13,000 top prize during Wednesday night’s awarding ceremony at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.
Jones employed the Moscow variation against Savchenko’s Sicilian Defence and maintained a slight edge out of the opening. It was the Russian’s passive play, however, that compounded black’s problems as Savchenko allowed Jones’ pesky bishop to invade the h6-square, preventing black from castling and leaving his king stuck in the centre. It went downhill for the Russian from thereon as Jones quickly organised an attack in the middle of the board, highlighted by a knight sacrifice on e5 that forced Savchenko to give up his queen on move 24.
The Russian played for over a dozen moves more before resigning on move 37 after Jones wiped away all his queenside pawns.
Playing the King’s Indian Defence (KID), Akopian was likewise quick to punish an errant play by the 2007 Dubai Open champion, GM Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia, to prevail in just 30 moves. Both players dished out 15 moves of standard play in a line of the KID’s Fianchetto variation when Pantsulaia suddenly deviated with a dubious attempt to win the exchange with 16.Bxe4 instead of the solid 16.Rxe4.
Akopian responded forcefully to regain the exchange two moves later and ruin white’s queenside pawn structure in the process. The Armenian liquidated to a queen-and-bishop endgame with equal material, but white’s queen had to passively defend the f2-pawn, which was under attack by black’s more actively placed bishop and queen, giving Akopian a free hand to wipe out white’s unattended queenside pawns. Pantsulaia resigned on move 30.
Brazilian GM Alexander Fier and Iranian GM Pouria Darini were the other players who had a chance to make it a three-way tie for first place, but the duo, who played another KID, ended their game in a draw by repetition on move 29.
Savchenko salvaged third place, having the highest tiebreak points among six players with seven points apiece. Fier was fourth followed by India’s GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Darini, Cuba’s GM Lazaro Batista Bruzon and Russia’s GM Mikhail Antipov.
Gujrathi defeated Turkey’s GM Mustafa Yilmaz, Bruzon won over Spain’s GM David Anton Guijarro and Antipov beat England’s GM David Howell.
UAE results
Reigning national champion Fide Master (FM) Saeed Ishaq topped the UAE rankings with 4.5 points despite a setback against Indian International Master (IM) Das Sayantan in the final round. FM Mayed Alrashedi continued his solid performance with a draw with IM Rohan Ahuja of India in the final round to likewise score 4.5 points, although he was relegated to the runner-up spot after the tiebreaks were applied.
Candidate Master (CM) Nagueb Saleh took home the top prize for the best Dubai player with four points and a performance rating of 2016, while Ali Abdulaziz was second also with four points and a performance rating of 1961.
Special prizes
Egypt’s GM Bassem Amin took the prize for the best Arab player after finishing at 17th place with 6.5 points. He defeated India’s GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J. in the final round. Former world women’s champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria was the best female player with six points and rating performance of 2495. Ukraine’s IM Inna Gaponenko took the silver medal.
The rating category winners were IM Nitin S. of India (above 2300), Al Muthaiah of India (above 2200), CM Peter Drost of the Netherlands (above 2100), Woman International Master (WIM) Ivana Maria Furtado of India (above 2000) and Nair Sanjeev of India (below 2000).
The special prizes were based on a player’s tournament performance rating.
GM, IM norms
Five youthful players also fulfilled international norms, led by 19-year-old IM Gagare Shardul of India, who gained a GM norm. Garnering an IM norm each were 15-year-old FM Aryan Gholami (Iran), 15-year-old Vugar Asadli (Azerbaijan), 19-year-old Daniel Anwuli, who is currently Nigeria’s best player, and 21-year-old Chinna Reddy C H Mehar (India).
Gawain Jones lifts Sheikh Rashid bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup
Final standings:
1 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2650 7.5
2 GM Akopian Vladimir ARM 2656 7.5
3 GM Savchenko Boris RUS 2607 7
4 GM Fier Alexandr BRA 2619 7
5 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2648 7
6 GM Darini Pouria IRI 2496 7
7 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro CUB 2679 7
8 GM Antipov Mikhail Al. RUS 2562 7
9 GM Sokolov Ivan NED 2626 6.5
10 GM Gopal G.N. IND 2544 6.5
11 GM Pantsulaia Levan GEO 2604 6.5
12 GM Sargissian Gabriel ARM 2693 6.5
13 GM Safarli Eltaj AZE 2656 6.5
14 GM Kuzubov Yuriy UKR 2638 6.5
15 IM Tabatabaei M.Amin IRI 2466 6.5
16 GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2585 6.5
17 GM Amin Bassem EGY 2655 6.5
18 GM Can Emre TUR 2555 6.5
19 IM Gagare Shardul IND 2491 6
20 GM Adhiban B. IND 2663 6
21 GM Yilmaz Mustafa TUR 2594 6
22 GM Sethuraman S.P. IND 2658 6
23 GM Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2695 6
24 GM Ghosh Diptayan IND 2562 6
25 GM Anton Guijarro David ESP 2616 6
26 GM Jobava Baadur GEO 2672 6
27 IM Das Arghyadip IND 2441 6
28 GM Haznedaroglu Kivanc TUR 2473 6
29 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. IND 2515 6
30 IM Nitin S. IND 2359 6
31 IM Ezat Mohamed EGY 2467 6
32 GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2507 6
33 GM Howell David W L ENG 2678 5.5
34 IM Aryan Chopra IND 2447 5.5
35 IM Thejkumar M. S. IND 2427 5.5
36 GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J. IND 2466 5.5
37 IM Karthikeyan P. IND 2463 5.5
38 FM Anwuli Daniel NGR 2365 5.5
39 IM Ali Marandi Cemil Can TUR 2473 5.5
40 GM Kostenko Petr KAZ 2450 5.5
41 GM Debashis Das IND 2452 5.5
42 GM Andriasian Zaven ARM 2616 5.5
43 GM Mareco Sandro ARG 2625 5.5
IM Ly Moulthun AUS 2506 5.5
45 GM Kovalenko Igor LAT 2662 5.5
46 Gusain Himal IND 2429 5.5
47 FM Gholami Aryan IRI 2429 5.5
48 IM Di Berardino Diego Rafael BRA 2512 5.5
49 FM Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H. IND 2347 5.5
50 FM Asadli Vugar AZE 2378 5.5
51 IM Swayams Mishra IND 2463 5.5
52 IM Lorparizangeneh Shahin IRI 2456 5.5
53 IM Nezad Husein Aziz QAT 2421 5.5
54 FM Bashirli Nail AZE 2381 5.5
55 GM Korobov Anton UKR 2695 5.5
56 IM Akshat Khamparia IND 2362 5.5
57 IM Pascua Haridas PHI 2427 5.5
58 IM Das Sayantan IND 2435 5.5
59 IM Krishna C R G IND 2404 5.5
60 GM Mammadov Zaur AZE 2456 5
61 IM Ris Robert NED 2412 5
62 IM Padmini Rout IND 2439 5
63 GM Arribas Lopez Angel ESP 2549 5
64 IM Karavade Eesha IND 2403 5
65 GM Arun Prasad S. IND 2509 5
66 WIM Pratyusha Bodda IND 2318 5
67 WGM Saduakassova Dinara KAZ 2411 5
68 GM Sengupta Deep IND 2554 5
69 IM Gaponenko Inna UKR 2408 5
70 FM Samhouri A. JOR 2365 5
71 Muthaiah Al IND 2281 5
72 GM Mollah Abdullah Al Rakib BAN 2492 5
73 IM Kanter Eduard RUS 2368 5
74 IM Hesham Abdelrahman EGY 2390 5
75 CM Drost Peter NED 2107 5
76 CM Erigaisi Arjun IND 2350 5
77 Harsha Bharathakoti IND 2319 5
78 GM Laxman R.R. IND 2406 5
79 FM Nihal Sarin IND 2351 5
80 FM Karthik V. Ap IND 2385 5
81 Hemant Sharma (del) IND 2246 5
82 IM Mohammad Minhaz Uddin BAN 2439 5
83 WGM Soumya Swaminathan IND 2358 5
84 IM Galojan Lilit ARM 2303 5
85 IM Rajesh V A V IND 2358 4.5
86 IM Rathnakaran K. IND 2456 4.5
87 Nyazi Nehad EGY 2242 4.5
88 GM Ankit R. Rajpara IND 2491 4.5
89 FM Hafiz Arif Abdul INA 2326 4.5
90 GM Hossain Enamul BAN 2426 4.5
91 Marcos Marvin PHI 2112 4.5
92 IM Sanal Vahap TUR 2478 4.5
93 WGM Kulkarni Bhakti IND 2284 4.5
94 WGM Swati Ghate IND 2279 4.5
95 FM Saeed Ishaq UAE 2286 4.5
96 IM Fawzy Adham EGY 2475 4.5
97 IM Nomin-Erdene Davaademberel MGL 2490 4.5
98 Rogoznikov Andrey RUS 2296 4.5
99 CM Prince Bajaj IND 2282 4.5
100 Kaboodi Behrang IRI 2114 4.5
101 FM Mohannad Farhan JOR 2239 4.5
102 CM Nadir Samir SUD 2190 4.5
103 WIM Mammadova Narmin AZE 2204 4.5
104 WIM Ivana Maria Furtado IND 2091 4.5
105 FM Yousry Salah EGY 2266 4.5
106 WGM Maisuradze Nino FRA 2268 4.5
107 Nair Sanjeev IND 1832 4.5
108 Kucuksari Kaan TUR 2125 4.5
109 Tabada Jobannie C. PHI 2234 4.5
110 FM Mayed Alrashedi UAE 1977 4.5
111 FM Bisby Daniel L ENG 2275 4
112 IM Feldman Vladimir AUS 2154 4
113 Godarz Kasra IRI 2221 4
114 IM Abou El Zein Eid Mahmoud EGY 2150 4
115 Dimarucut Francis Erwin PHI 2122 4
116 Aradhya Garg IND 2287 4
117 Nimmy A.G. IND 2148 4
118 IM Kerigan Demre TUR 2358 4
119 Basil Alshouha JOR 2153 4
120 IM Rohan Ahuja IND 2440 4
121 Doostkam P IRI 2095 4
122 Elnemr Mohamed EGY 2107 4
123 Rahul Srivatshav P IND 2352 4
124 FM Srinath Rao S.V. IND 2233 4
125 WIM Heinemann Josefine GER 2259 4
126 IM Berezina Irina AUS 2154 4
127 WGM Makropoulou Marina GRE 2176 4
128 Odeh Kenneth NGR 2031 4
129 Mursalli Matin AZE 1791 4
130 FM Elmejbri Ali A. LBA 2026 4
131 CM Saleh Nagueb UAE 2208 4
132 Ali Abdulaziz UAE 1910 4
133 FM Ahmed Fareed UAE 1995 4
134 Wang Shanshan CHN 2076 4
135 FM Kuznetsov Mikhail V. RUS 2341 3.5
136 FM Saleh Nabil UAE 2229 3.5
137 WIM Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe IND 2085 3.5
138 FM Hamdan Marshool UAE 2003 3.5
139 Salah Romany EGY 2090 3.5
140 Raahul V S IND 1927 3.5
141 WFM Tarini Goyal IND 2008 3.5
142 CM Mendonca Leon Luke IND 1760 3.5
143 Ashraf Ahmed Ramadan EGY 1911 3.5
144 Mahmoud Haitham SUD 1958 3.5
145 Majed Ali Abdouli UAE 1657 3.5
146 IM Sultan Ibrahim UAE 2045 3.5
147 Ababneh Ghayth JOR 2051 3.5
148 Yap Ernesto M. PHI 2024 3.5
149 Ahmad Al Romaithi UAE 1681 3.5
150 Danilo Reyes G. PHI 1618 3.5
151 Jaeel Atharva IND 1617 3.5
152 FM Ammar Sedrani UAE 1701 3.5
153 Abdulla Al-Hamed UAE 1871 3.5
154 Elrashed Siddig SUD 1974 3.5
155 WGM Mona Khaled EGY 2219 3
156 Ismayilzada Ismayil AZE 1858 3
157 Pankaj Sindhu IND 1645 3
158 Mohamed Marshool UAE 1662 3
159 Jijo Joy IND 1527 3
160 Anant Prabhudesai IND 1894 3
161 Anilkumar O.T. IND 2080 3
162 Mohamed Saeed Laily UAE 1519 3
163 Rafee Mohd Hayel SYR 1938 3
164 Mosallam Mohammad UAE 1549 3
165 Alem Ali Hussien KSA 1832 3
166 Fawwaz Mohammed IND 1468 3
167 Khaled Ahmed Y. UAE 1664 3
168 Hamad Essam UAE 1516 3
169 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2621 2.5
170 GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil GEO 2615 2.5
171 Arjun Adappa IND 1938 2.5
172 Sameir Ramez EGY 2070 2.5
173 Saif Ahmed UAE 1453 2.5
174 Basheer P V IND 1751 2.5
175 Al Hamed Saif Idrees UAE 1649 2.5
176 Al Zaabi Talal UAE 1578 2.5
177 Salem Ahmed Salem UAE 1725 2.5
178 Ghanem Al Shamari QAT 1544 2.5
179 Ahmed Rashed Al Hefeti UAE 1550 2
180 Al-Khelaifi Kholoud QAT 1496 2
181 CM Khalifah Khaled UAE 1532 2
182 WCM Al-Khelaifi Aisha QAT 1736 2
183 WCM Al-Khulaifi Ghada QAT 1683 2
184 Hakobyan Hovhannes H. ARM 2183 1.5
185 Hamad Ahmad Alkaabi UAE 1554 1.5
186 AIM Khezrian Mohammad USA 1483 1.5
187 WFM Al-Khulaifi Fatima A. QAT 1617 1.5
188 Shahzad Asif PAK 1703 1.5
189 Khaled Shihadeh JOR 1528 1
190 GM Lalith Babu M R IND 2579 0
FM Bilguun Sumiya MGL 2379 0
IM Yandarbiev Ruslan RUS 2358 0
IM Purtseladze Maka GEO 2347 0
WGM Mammadzada Gunay AZE 2318 0
Almajbari Abdalla Ali LBA 1758 0
