The organising committee has completed its preparations for the Dubai Open Chess Tournament 2016 – Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup, which is held annually under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance of the UAE.
Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan will personally witness Monday’s opening of the 18th edition of the tournament, which registered a new record in participation this year.
This year’s tournament has more than 205 registered players, which is a new tournament record. Participants come from 41 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
Reaffirming its reputation as one of the strongest open tournaments in the world, there are 136 titled players competing in the Dubai Open, including 47 international Grandmasters (GMs), which is another record for the championship. There are also eight Woman Grandmasters (WGMs), 39 International Masters (IMs) and six Woman International Masters (WIMs).
A number of young and promising talents are also competing in the tournament, including Fide Master (FM) Mahammad Muradli of Azerbaijan, the world Under-12 champion, and Iranian FM Aryan Gholami, bronze medallist in the world Under-14 championship, and his compatriot Mohammed Amin Tabatabaei. In addition, young Egyptian talents IM Fawzy Adham and IM Abdelrahman Hesham are expected to give the more experienced players tough competition.
The host country is also well represented, led by the golden boy of UAE chess, GM Salem Abdul Rahman Saleh, veteran campaigner FM Nabil Mohammed Saleh, FM Saeed Ishaq, Arab Under-18 champion IM Sultan Ibrahim and the UAE’s top lady player WIM Amna Nouman.
Emirati International Arbiter (IA) Mahdi Abdul Rahim, the tournament Chief Arbiter, and Mohammed El Husseiny, tournament coordinator, led a meeting on Saturday at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club to discuss the final preparations for the tournament. The meeting was attended by IA Naji Al-Radhi, IA Jamal Qasim and IA Walid Abu Obeid and IA Augusto Marcial.
The tournament’s media committee will produce a daily bulletin in Arabic and English. Games will also be broadcast on the club’s website, www.dubaichess.ae and other leading chess websites.
Participants (top 75):
1. GM Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2695
2. GM Korobov Anton UKR 2695
3. GM Sargissian Gabriel ARM 2693
4. GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro CUB 2679
5. GM Howell David W L ENG 2678
6. GM Areshchenko Alexander UKR 2674
7. GM Jobava Baadur GEO 2672
8. GM Adhiban B. IND 2663
9. GM Kovalenko Igor LAT 2662
10. GM Sethuraman S.P. IND 2658
11. GM Akopian Vladimir ARM 2656
12. GM Safarli Eltaj AZE 2656
13. GM Amin Bassem EGY 2655
14. GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2650
15. GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2648
16. GM Guseinov Gadir AZE 2645
17. GM Kuzubov Yuriy UKR 2638
18. GM Sokolov Ivan NED 2626
19. GM Mareco Sandro ARG 2625
20. GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2621
21. GM Fier Alexandr BRA 2619
22. GM Andriasian Zaven ARM 2616
23. GM Anton Guijarro David ESP 2616
24. GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil GEO 2615
25. GM Savchenko Boris RUS 2607
26. GM Pantsulaia Levan GEO 2604
27. GM Yilmaz Mustafa TUR 2594
28. GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2585
29. GM Lalith Babu M R IND 2579
30. GM Antipov Mikhail Al. RUS 2562
31. GM Ghosh Diptayan IND 2562
32. GM Can Emre TUR 2555
33. GM Sengupta Deep IND 2554
34. GM Arribas Lopez Angel ESP 2549
35. GM Gopal G.N. IND 2544
36. GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. IND 2515
37. IM Di Berardino Diego Rafael BRA 2512
38. GM Arun Prasad S. IND 2509
39. GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2507
40. IM Ly Moulthun AUS 2506
41. GM Ankit R. Rajpara IND 2491
42. IM Gagare Shardul IND 2491
43. IM Nomin-Erdene Davaademberel MGL 2490
44. IM Sanal Vahap TUR 2478
45. IM Fawzy Adham EGY 2475
46. GM Haznedaroglu Kivanc TUR 2473
47. IM Ali Marandi Cemil Can TUR 2473
48. IM Ezat Mohamed EGY 2467
49. GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J. IND 2466
50. IM Tabatabaei M.Amin IRI 2466
51. IM Karthikeyan P. IND 2463
52. IM Swayams Mishra IND 2463
53. GM Neelotpal Das IND 2457
54. GM Mammadov Zaur AZE 2456
55. IM Lorparizangeneh Shahin IRI 2456
56. IM Rathnakaran K. IND 2456
57. GM Debashis Das IND 2452
58. GM Kostenko Petr KAZ 2450
59. IM Aryan Chopra IND 2447
60. IM Das Arghyadip IND 2441
61. IM Rohan Ahuja IND 2440
62. IM Mohammad Minhaz Uddin BAN 2439
63. IM Padmini Rout IND 2439
64. IM Das Sayantan IND 2435
65. FM Gholami Aryan IRI 2429
66. Gusain Himal IND 2429
67. IM Pascua Haridas PHI 2427
68. IM Thejkumar M. S. IND 2427
69. GM Hossain Enamul BAN 2426
70. IM Nezad Husein Aziz QAT 2421
71. IM Ris Robert NED 2412
72. WGM Saduakassova Dinara KAZ 2411
73. IM Gaponenko Inna UKR 2408
74. GM Laxman R.R. IND 2406
75. IM Krishna C R G IND 2404