16th Dubai Open Chess Championship – Round 1
Tuesday, 08 April 2014 11:08
Dubai Open Chess Championship
The Dubai Open Chess Championship reeled off Monday with a strong field of 143 players from 39 countries seeing action at the Dubai Chess Club in Dubai, UAE. Heading the list are 38 top Grandmasters competing for $50,000 in cash prizes.
Fourteen Indian players won their first round assignments to take the early lead with other favorites in the 16th Dubai Open Chess Championship at the Dubai Chess Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Young Indian Grandmasters led the charge as 19-year-old GM Grover Sahaj, Shyam Sundar, 22, Debashis Das, 21, and former champion Abhijeet Gupta, 25, outplayed their opponents. Other Indians joining the lead pack also with 1 point each are International Masters Ghosh Diptayan, Ashwin Jayaram, Swapnil Dhopade and Das Sayatan, Candidate Master Prince Bajaj and untitled Nandu Gagarin, Karthik V. Ap, Deshpande Aniruddha, Abhishek Kelkar and Krishna C.R.G.
Twenty year old Woman Grandmaster Mona Khaled of Egypt, 89th seed, rocked the tournament with her upset victory over highly ranked 14th seed GM Tigran Petrosian of Armenia, rated 2647.
At stake in the tournament is the Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al maktoum Cup. The event will be played as a 9-round Swiss system competition. Games are scheduled 5:30 pm daily except on the rest day, Friday, when there will be a blitz tournament. The strong field includes 38 Grandmasters and 8 Woman Grandmasters, 16 International Masters, 3 Woman International Masters, 10 FIDE Masters and 5 Woman FIDE Masters.
GM Anton Korobov of Ukraine heads the list with a rating of 2698 followed by former Dubai Open champion Vladimir Akopian with 2674. Twenty players rated over 2600 are strong contenders for the crown. Since its inception in 1999, the Dubai Open has been considered one of the major Swiss open tournaments in the chess world.
The tournament is scheduled from 7th to 16th April at the Dubai Culture and Chess Club. Top boards are broadcast live at http://www.dubaichess.ae/dubaiopen2014/ in the Dubai Chess Club web site. See results and standings inhttp://www.chess-results.com/tnr130214.aspx?lan=1&wi=821&turdet=YES. Chief Arbiter is Mahdi Abdulrahim of the UAE while Tournament Director is Dubai Chess Club manager Mohammed Husseiny.
Other Grandmasters with one point each are Anton Korobov of Ukraine, Vladimir Akopian and Zaven Andirasian of Armenia, Edouard Romain and Andrei Istratescu of France, Constantin Lupulescu of Romania, Csaba Balogh of Hungary, Amin Bassem of Egypt, Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela, Dragan Solak of Turkey, Mikheil Mchedlishvili of Georgia, Aleksandr Rakhmanov of Russia, Hrvoje Stevic, Alozije Jankovic, Goran Dizdar and Ante Brkic of Croatia, Viorel Iordachescu of Moldova, Axel Bachman of Paraguay, Sebastian Bogner of Switzerland, Rinat Jumabayev, Petr Kostenko, Anuar Ismagamberov and Pavel Kotsur of Kazakhstan, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran, Athanasios Mastrovasilis of Greece, Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh, Slavko Cicak and Carlsson Pontus of Sweden.
Excellent tournament.