The 20th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival was organized by the Abu Dhabi Chess & Culture Club and Abu Dhabi Sport Council from 30th June to 8th July at the Sofitel Hotel Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The Festival consisted of the Master Tournament (for players rated above 2200 FIDE and Abu Dhabi players), Open Tournament (for U2200 players), Junior Tournament (for U15 players), and Blitz tournament.
Four Grandmasters shared the first place in the Masters event with 6,5 points each – Igor Kurnosov (Russia), Zahar Efimenko, Mikhailo Oleksienko (both Ukraine) and Avetik Grigoryan (Armenia).
Igor Kurnosov is declared winner on best tie-break score. Watch the video by Vijay Kumar.
The Open Tournament had 124 participants. Behrang Kaboodi (IRI 1993) and FM Ahmed Al-Zayat (LBA 2085) shared the first place with 8,0/9 points each, leaving the nearest followers a full point behind.
The Junior Tournament had 140 players competing over 7 rounds of Swiss system. Ismayil Shahaliyev (AZE 2056) won the event with 6,5 points.
Masters Tournament final standings (top 30):
1 GM Kurnosov Igor RUS 2657 – 6.5
2 GM Efimenko Zahar UKR 2651 – 6.5
3 GM Oleksienko Mikhailo UKR 2568 – 6.5
4 GM Grigoryan Avetik ARM 2605 – 6.5
5 GM Volkov Sergey RUS 2613 – 6
6 GM Istratescu Andrei FRA 2655 – 6
7 IM Bajarani Ulvi AZE 2417 – 6
8 IM Ramnath Bhuvanesh.R IND 2352 – 5.5
9 GM Rakhmanov Aleksandr RUS 2602 – 5.5
10 IM Ankit R. Rajpara IND 2428 – 5.5
11 GM Gopal G.N. IND 2522 – 5.5
12 Iskandarov Misratdin AZE 2371 – 5.5
13 GM Vaibhav Suri IND 2535 – 5.5
14 Asgarizadeh Ahmad IRI 2347 – 5.5
15 GM Malakhatko Vadim BEL 2559 – 5
16 IM Shoker Samy EGY 2477 – 5
17 GM Guseinov Gadir AZE 2631 – 5
18 GM El Gindy Essam EGY 2490 – 5
19 GM Papin Vasily RUS 2547 – 5
20 GM Raetsky Alexander RUS 2412 – 5
21 FM El Adnani Mokliss MAR 2381 – 5
22 GM Akshayraj Kore IND 2508 – 5
23 IM Estremera Panos Sergio ESP 2372 – 5
24 IM Karavade Eesha IND 2398 – 4.5
25 GM Berescu Alin-Mile ROU 2461 – 4.5
26 GM Lazarev Vladimir FRA 2410 – 4.5
27 GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian ROU 2565 – 4.5
28 Primbetov Kazbek KAZ 2225 – 4.5
29 Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh IND 2198 – 4.5
30 IM Zozulia Anna BLR 2316 – 4.5
Fantastic.