Chinese GM Wang Hao beat GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili of Georgia in the 7th round to widen his lead to a full point in the homestretch of 4th Al Ain Chess Classic at the Hili Reyhaan Rotana Hotel in Al Ain, UAE.
Wang essayed the English opening and sacrificed a Knight on the 21st move to open lines for attack. Mchedlishvili was forced to give the exchange and in the ensuing minor piece endgame resigned on the 44th move facing loss of material. The former Chinese champion leads alone with 6.5 points.
GM Abhijeet Gupta of India beat compatriot Babu Lalith to climb to second slot with 5.5 points together with top seed Yuriy Kryvoruchko of Ukraine, former world championship finalist Alexei Shirov of Latvia and Arman Pashikian of Armenia.
Al Ain Rotana Hili Hotel
Gupta crushed the Nimzoindian defense of Lalith in 42 moves. Gupta, 26, World Junior champion in 2008 and winner of the Al Ain Classic in 2013, sacrificed a Knight on the 19th move and penetrated with his Queen to force resignation on the 42nd move.
Kryvoruchko smashed the Sicilian defense of GM Zeng Chongseng of Chiina. The Chinese aggressively gave a Rook for Knight on the 18th move but Kryvoruchko turned him back to win in 59 moves.
Pashikian countered the kingside pawn storm of French GM Fabien Libiszewski with a break in the center of a Ruy Lopez game to win in 41 moves.
Second running Alexei Shirov of Latvia was held to a draw by GM Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia in a marathon 66 moves of a Reti opening.
Nine players follow with 5 points each, namely Alexander Areshchenko, Yuriy Kuzubov and Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko of Ukraine, Sergey Volkov, Aleksandr Rakhmanov and Alexander Motylev of Russia, Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia, Ahmed Adly of Egypt and Walter Arencibia of Cuba.
Lalith, Mchedlishvili, Zeng and Libisziewski follow in a group of 21 players tied at 4.5 points each. A record 56 GMs and 5 WGMs are among the 127-man field from 33 countries. At stake is a total of $57,000 in cash prizes.
An Al Ain Amateur tournament is held concurrently for players rated below 2000 with 72 players from 15 countries competing for $7,000 in cash prizes. Anisweud Sasikumar, 15, of India leads the Amateur event alone with 6.5 points out of 7 rounds followed by Ahmad Saeed Bondok of Egypt with 6 points. WIM Nibal Algildah of Syria, Saji Adarsh of India and Yaroslav Toporov of Kazakhstan trail with 5.5 points each.
Round 7 standings:
1. GM Wang Hao CHN 2707 – 6.5
2. GM Shirov Alexei LAT 2676 – 5.5
3. GM Pashikian Arman ARM 2606 – 5.5
4. GM Gupta Abhijeet IND 2613 – 5.5
5. GM Kryvoruchko Yuriy UKR 2711 – 5.5
6. GM Pantsulaia Levan GEO 2598 – 5
7. GM Areshchenko Alexander UKR 2677 – 5
8. GM Rakhmanov Aleksandr RUS 2640 – 5
9. GM Adly Ahmed EGY 2598 – 5
10. GM Kuzubov Yuriy UKR 2640 – 5
11. GM Volkov Sergey RUS 2612 – 5
12. GM Motylev Alexander RUS 2653 – 5
13. GM Arencibia Rodriguez Walter CUB 2501 – 5
14. GM Oleksiyenko Mykhaylo UKR 2616 – 5
15. GM Lalith Babu M.R. IND 2553 – 4.5
16. GM Zeng Chongsheng CHN 2530 – 4.5
17. GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil GEO 2635 – 4.5
18. GM Babujian Levon ARM 2465 – 4.5
19. GM Onischuk Vladimir UKR 2612 – 4.5
20. GM Kovalenko Igor LAT 2680 – 4.5
21. GM Kovchan Alexander UKR 2583 – 4.5
22. GM Gabuzyan Hovhannes ARM 2585 – 4.5
23. GM Gasanov Eldar UKR 2485 – 4.5
24. GM Andriasian Zaven ARM 2594 – 4.5
25. GM Libiszewski Fabien FRA 2515 – 4.5
26. GM Zhigalko Sergei BLR 2655 – 4.5
27. GM Amin Bassem EGY 2665 – 4.5
28. GM Vishnu Prasanna. V IND 2514 – 4.5
29. GM Efimenko Zahar UKR 2647 – 4.5
30. GM Hovhannisyan Robert ARM 2624 – 4.5
31. GM Kravtsiv Martyn UKR 2623 – 4.5
32. GM Malakhatko Vadim BEL 2531 – 4.5
33. GM Azarov Sergei BLR 2595 – 4.5
34. GM Kulaots Kaido EST 2574 – 4.5
35. GM Iordachescu Viorel MDA 2600 – 4.5
36. GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J. IND 2496 – 4.5
37. GM Bajarani Ulvi AZE 2551 – 4
38. IM Ghosh Diptayan IND 2550 – 4
39. GM Vaibhav Suri IND 2552 – 4
40. GM Edouard Romain FRA 2627 – 4
41. IM Petrosyan Tigran S. ARM 2469 – 4
42. GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian ROU 2586 – 4
43. IM Visakh N R IND 2388 – 4
44. IM Baghdasaryan Vahe ARM 2432 – 4
45. GM Ankit R. Rajpara IND 2489 – 4
46. GM Mollah Abdullah Al Rakib BAN 2472 – 4
47. IM Petrosyan Manuel ARM 2466 – 4
48. GM Gopal G.N. IND 2525 – 4
49. GM Neverov Valeriy UKR 2516 – 4
50. GM Mammadov Zaur AZE 2467 – 4
51. GM Sengupta Deep IND 2563 – 4
52. CM Sindarov Javokhir UZB 2224 – 4
53. IM Azaladze Shota GEO 2468 – 4
54. IM Morchiashvili Bachana GEO 2326 – 4
55. GM Anton Guijarro David ESP 2640 – 4
56. IM Omar Noaman UAE 2403 – 4
57. GM Hayrapetyan Hovik ARM 2489 – 4
58. IM Hesham Abdelrahman EGY 2398 – 4
59. Mu Ke CHN 2403 – 3.5
60. IM Swayams Mishra IND 2477 – 3.5
61. IM Das Sayantan IND 2411 – 3.5
62. GM Riff Jean-Noel FRA 2507 – 3.5
63. IM Labib Ibrahim Hasan EGY 2434 – 3.5
64. Pirverdiyev Agil AZE 2311 – 3.5
65. CM Asadli Vugar AZE 2323 – 3.5
66. FM Kokol Peter SLO 2363 – 3.5
67. GM Debashis Das IND 2505 – 3.5
68. IM Anurag Mhamal IND 2390 – 3.5
69. WGM Mammadova Gulnar AZE 2323 – 3.5
70. FM Ahmed Fareed UAE 1970 – 3.5
71. FM Bashirli Nail AZE 2338 – 3.5
72. Danielyan Vahe ARM 2307 – 3.5
73. IM Harutyunian Tigran K. ARM 2448 – 3.5
74. Guliyev Gasan AZE 2019 – 3.5
75. WGM Mammadzada Gunay AZE 2341 – 3.5
76. IM Abdulov Orkhan AZE 2356 – 3
77. CM Nitish Belurkar IND 2304 – 3
78. Iniyan P IND 2275 – 3
79. WFM Hojjatova Aydan AZE 2288 – 3
80. Aradhya Garg IND 2316 – 3
81. FM Arvola Benjamin NOR 2328 – 3
82. GM Hossain Enamul BAN 2450 – 3
83. Mkrtchyan Sargis R. ARM 2236 – 3
84. IM Prathamesh Sunil Mokal IND 2393 – 3
85. WCM Mammadova Narmin AZE 2167 – 3
86. Arjun Kalyan IND 2107 – 3
87. FM Gadimbayli Abdulla AZE 2320 – 3
88. San Juan Dennis PHI 2101 – 3
89. FM Mohannad Farhan JOR 2253 – 3
90. FM Mayed Alrashedi UAE 1895 – 3
91. Jayakumaar S IND 2169 – 3
92. WIM Kurbonboeva Sarvinoz UZB 2295 – 3
93. Hakobyan Hovhannes H. ARM 2112 – 3
94. IM Zozulia Anna BEL 2335 – 3
95. Asgarova Turan AZE 1935 – 3
96. Yogit S IND 2239 – 2.5
97. WGM Abdulla Khayala AZE 2256 – 2.5
98. WGM Kulkarni Bhakti IND 2328 – 2.5
99. WIM Khalafova Narmin AZE 2138 – 2.5
100. Ashwath R. IND 2252 – 2.5
101. Parvanyan Ashot ARM 2197 – 2.5
102. Rahul Srivatshav P IND 2086 – 2.5
103. WFM Pujari Rucha IND 2158 – 2.5
104. FM Algildah Khalid SYR 2086 – 2.5
105. Mammadov Gulam AZE 2086 – 2.5
106. WIM Parnali S Dharia IND 2002 – 2.5
107. Ali Abdulaziz UAE 1855 – 2.5
108. Saiid Samir EGY 2200 – 2.5
109. WGM Safranska Anda FRA 2259 – 2
110. WGM Wafa Shrook EGY 2115 – 2
111. CM Ismael Namir Mohammed Ismael IRQ 2254 – 2
112. Abtini Hasan SYR 1992 – 2
113. Sameir Ramez EGY 2080 – 2
114. Ashid Tsetsegulzii MGL 1869 – 2
115. FM Ammar Sedrani UAE 1573 – 2
116. Soyunlu Narmin AZE 1919 – 2
117. WFM Tarini Goyal IND 1826 – 2
118. GM Kunte Abhijit IND 2507 – 1.5
119. Anisuzzaman Jewel BAN 2078 – 1.5
120. Afshar Niusha IRI 1961 – 1.5
121. CM Al Hosani Omran UAE 1817 – 1
122. Abucejo Armel N PHI 2032 – 1
123. Wettasinha Vasanta SRI 1858 – 1
124. Musallam Salim Al Aamri OMA 1888 – 1
125. Ahmad M Saleh Alzarouni UAE 1668 – 1
126. FM Elmejbri Ali A. LBA 2031 – 0
127. Harsha Bharathakoti IND 2362 – 0
