Latest news with #25thDubaiOpenChessTournament
Gulf Today
an hour ago
- Sport
- Gulf Today
Unbeaten Grebnev goes on top with four victories and one draw
Grandmaster (GM) Aleksey Grebnev grabbed the pole position after emerging as the lone winner among the erstwhile co-leaders in Saturday night's fifth round of the 25th Dubai Open Chess Tournament at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. The 18-year-old Russian talent played the Sicilian Defence and then accepted and ultimately refuted a rare pawn gambit line unleashed by the Indian GM Bharath Subramaniyam to pick up his fourth win against a lone draw and no losses. Subramaniyam initially succeeded in keeping Grebnev's king stuck in the centre, but the Indian lost his way in the complications when he allowed a queen trade that left him a pawn down in the endgame - and where the Russian's previously vulnerable king became an active asset. Grebnev was flawless from thereon, marching his king up the board to support his passed pawn on the f-file as Subramaniyam could do little to stop its advance. Grebnev now has 4.5 points, half a point ahead of five players who are in joint second place, including defending champion GM Mahammad Muradli of Azerbaijan and Indian top-seed GM Nihal Sarin, who drew their match on the first board, and International Master Rohith Krishna of India, who also drew his game against Russia's GM Ivan Zemlyanskii. GM Shant Sargsyan of Armenia and Iranian prodigy GM Sina Movahed, who celebrated his 15th birthday during the tournament's first round on May 27th, moved up to joint second place with wins over Indian players IM A. Ra Harikrishnan and GM Prraneeth Vuppala, respectively. Grebnev will try to protect his lead against the tournament favourite Sarin in the sixth round's top-board match-up on Sunday. In Category B, Iran's Fide Master (FM) Mahdi Nikookar defeated India's Candidate Master (CM) Alankar Sawai Vandan to likewise claim the sole leadership with a perfect five points. CM Allayar Shirliyev of Turkmenistan and Sri Lanka's Pesandu Rashmitha Liyanage trail at second place with 4.5 each after wins over India's Hemant Agarwal Mukund and IM Anastasios Pavlidis of Greece, respectively. Nikookar will have the white pieces as he tries to maintain his unbeaten streak when he faces Shirliyev in the sixth round. The tournament follows a 9-round Swiss system with a 90-minute time control plus a 30-second increment per move. Games are played every day from 5pm, except the final round on June 4, which starts at 10am. The awarding ceremony is on June 5. The tournament offers a prize pool of $52,000 to be handed out to the winners of both categories. Category A, contested by players with a rating over 2300, has a total prize fund of $39,500 with $12,000 going to the champion, while Category B, open to players rated below 2300, offers $12,500 in total prizes and $2,000 awarded to the champion. Special prizes will also be distributed to top performers among rating categories, unrated, youth, women, and UAE players. International Arbiter Majed Al Abdooli of the UAE spearheads the tournament's international team of arbiters who will manage and oversee the competition. Chess fans from around the world can watch the Category A games live on the club's website as well as chess platforms such as and Earlier, top-seed Grandmaster (GM) Nihal Sarin scored an emphatic victory to bounce back into the lead after erstwhile co-leaders GM Mahammad Muradli and GM Aleksey Grebnev agreed to a quick, uneventful draw in Friday night's fourth round of the 25th Dubai Open Chess Tournament at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. The three grandmasters have 3.5 points each and are joined in a five-way tie at the top by Indian players IM Rohith Krishna and GM Bharath Subramaniyam. Sarin, who was held to a draw by Krishna in the third round, repulsed a daring attack against his king by Israel's GM Yair Parkhov in securing the win. The Indian top-seed maintained a solid grip of the position and was poised to win material when Parkhov launched a kingside offensive punctuated by a rook sacrifice. Sarin did not have problems diffusing the attack and converting into an endgame where he was a piece up.
Gulf Today
a day ago
- Sport
- Gulf Today
Five-way tie at Dubai Open Chess Tournament
Top-seed Grandmaster (GM) Nihal Sarin scored an emphatic victory to bounce back into the lead after erstwhile co-leaders GM Mahammad Muradli and GM Aleksey Grebnev agreed to a quick, uneventful draw in Friday night's fourth round of the 25th Dubai Open Chess Tournament at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. The three grandmasters have 3.5 points each and are joined in a five-way tie at the top by Indian players IM Rohith Krishna and GM Bharath Subramaniyam. Sarin, who was held to a draw by Krishna in the third round, repulsed a daring attack against his king by Israel's GM Yair Parkhov in securing the win. The Indian top-seed maintained a solid grip of the position and was poised to win material when Parkhov launched a kingside offensive punctuated by a rook sacrifice. Sarin did not have problems diffusing the attack and converting into an endgame where he was a piece up. The 28th-seed Krishna continued his stellar performance as he took down the ninth-seed GM Pa Iniyan, his first GM victim in the tournament, in a fashionable Queen's Gambit opening. Playing the black pieces, Krishna overcame a vicious attack that saw Iniyan sacrifice a pawn and then give up his rook for a knight to penetrate Krishna's kingside defences. Krishna, however, found enough defensive resources to neutralise Iniyan's attack and later forced an exchange of queens to convert into a winning rook-versus-knight endgame. Subramaniyam pounced on a costly oversight by compatriot IM A R Ilamparthi to pick up the win. Ilamparthi, playing white, had built a comfortable edge in the Pelikan variation of the Sicilian Defence until an unfortunate knight retreat on the 25th move allowed Subramaniyam to drop a devastating bishop sacrifice, which if taken would lead to Ilamparthi losing his queen. Ilamparthi chose to save his queen, but the tactical sequence still led to heavy material loss that ultimately decided the outcome. In the first all-GM encounter on the first board, Muradli of Azerbaijan and the Russian Grebnev shook hands for a draw after just four moves, effectively giving themselves a breather ahead of the expected tougher battles in the later rounds. The fourth-round results set up a highly anticipated match-up on the first board in Saturday's fifth round featuring defending champion Muradli facing the top-seed Sarin. Grebnev will take on Subramaniyam on the second board. Krishna will face reigning Asian blitz champion GM Ivan Zemlyanskii of Russia, who is among a group of eight players in joint second place with three points each, on the third board. Category B In Category B, Fide Master (FM) Mahdi Nikookar of Iran and Candidate Master (CM) Alankar Sawai Vandan of India remain the only players with perfect scores after four rounds. Nikookar defeated China's Zhang Zhi, while Vandan outplayed FM Syed Mahfuzur Rahman of Bangladesh. Nikookar and Vandan will contest the solo leadership in the fifth round. Tournament format, schedule, prizes The tournament follows a 9-round Swiss system with a 90-minute time control plus a 30-second increment per move. Games are played every day from 5pm, except the final round on June 4, which starts at 10am. The awarding ceremony is on June 5. The tournament offers a prize pool of $52,000 to be handed out to the winners of both categories. Category A, contested by players with a rating over 2300, has a total prize fund of $39,500 with $12,000 going to the champion. Category B, open to players rated below 2300, offers $12,500 in total prizes and $2,000 awarded to the champion. Special prizes will also be distributed to top performers among rating categories, unrated, youth, women, and UAE players. International arbiter team and live coverage International Arbiter Majed Al Abdooli of the UAE spearheads the tournament's international team of arbiters who will manage and oversee the competition. Chess fans from around the world can watch the Category A games live on the club's website as well as chess platforms such as and
Gulf Today
2 days ago
- Sport
- Gulf Today
Grandmasters Muradli, Grebnev share lead at Dubai Open Chess Tournament
Grandmaster (GM) Mahammad Muradli bolstered his quest to defend his title after picking up his third straight point in as many rounds on Thursday night in the 25th Dubai Open Chess Tournament at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. Muradli of Azerbaijan is in a two-way with Russia's teenage talent GM Aleksey Grebnev for the lead going into the next round, where both players will face off for the tournament's sole leadership. In it's 25-year history the Dubai Open has seen only two players winning the title twice, and both times in back-to-back fashion - GM Gawain Jones of the UK (2016-17) and GM Aravindh Chithambaram of India (2022-23). It will be an uphill battle for Muradli to become the third player to achieve the feat against a tough GM-laden field, but the Azerbaijani is off to a good start. Muradli defeated Austria's International Master (IM) Dotzer Lukas with the white pieces in a Reti Opening that quickly spiraled into a complex middlegame. Lukas signaled his aggressive intentions early by offering a pawn sacrifice on the third move, which Muradli declined. The Austrian then launched a serious kingside assault, prompting Muradli to secure his king on the queenside, but Lukas was severely running short on time-a factor that played a major role in his eventual loss. Grebnev won over Fide Master (FM) Panesar Vedant in a Larsen Attack opening where the 18-year-old Russian ripped open the Indian's kingside defense with his major pieces. Grebnev said he used an attacking idea successfully employed by Dutch number one Anish Giri in a game last year at the Tata Steel Masters. 'My opponent was not prepared for this line and he made a few mistakes and missed some tactics,' said Grebnev, who is playing in his fourth straight tournament this month - from the Rusian Team Championship in Sochi that started in late April, to the Asian Individual Championship in Al Ain, Sharjah Masters, and now the Dubai Open. 'I'm fine,' he said of his demanding schedule. 'It's my fourth tournament in a row, so I just want to show a good game.' The matches between the four other second-round leaders ended in draws, including top-seed GM Nihal Sarin of India who could only manage half a point against compatriot IM Rohith Krishna. Playing the black pieces, Sarin sacrificed a knight on the 17th move to pry open Krishna's kingside and create a potentially dangerous passed pawn. Krishna defended accurately and the game petered out into a drawn endgame. GM Yair Parkhov of Israel also halved the point with IM Nitish Belurkar of India. The four players dropped half a point behind Muradli and Grebnev with 2.5 points each. In Category B, five players led by Iran's FM Mahdi Nikookar share the lead with three points each. Nikookar, the seventh seed and the highest-rated player among the leaders, defeated India's Shashish Subbiah for his third straight point. Also with three points are Mukund Hemant Agarwal of India, FM Syed Mahfuzur Rahman of Bangladesh, Zhang Zhi of China, and Candidate Master (CM) Alankar Sawai Vandan of India. The tournament offers a prize pool of $52,000 to be handed out to the winners of both categories. Category A, contested by players with a rating over 2300, has a total prize fund of $39,500 with $12,000 going to the champion, while Category B, open to players rated below 2300, offers $12,500 in total prizes and $2,000 awarded to the champion. Special prizes will also be distributed to top performers among rating categories, unrated, youth, women, and UAE players. The tournament follows a 9-round Swiss system with a 90-minute time control plus a 30-second increment per move. Games are played every day from 5pm, except the final round on June 4, which starts at 10am. The awarding ceremony is on June 5. Earlier, Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri clinched the Masters title after securing 7 points out of 9 rounds at the recently concluded Sharjah Masters Chess Championship, marking the first time a European player has won the championship. Serbian Grandmaster Aleksandar Indjic and top-seeded Uzbek Grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov both scored 6.5 points, with Indjic taking second place and Abdusattorov finishing third on tiebreaks. Winners of the B and C categories were also honored during the ceremony.
Al Etihad
4 days ago
- Sport
- Al Etihad
Muradli and Grebnev share third-round lead at Dubai Open Chess Tournament
29 May 2025 23:10 DUBAI (ALETIHAD)Grandmaster (GM) Mahammad Muradli remains on track to become only the third player to defend his title after a hard-fought win on Thursday night, securing a two-way tie for the lead with Russia's GM Aleksey Grebnev after the third round of the 25th Dubai Open Chess Tournament at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. Muradli defeated Austria's International Master (IM) Dotzer Lukas with white pieces in a Reti Opening that quickly spiralled into a complex middle game. Grebnev won over Fide Master (FM) Vedant Panesar in a Larsen Attack opening where the 18-year-old Russian blasted the Indian's king-side defence with his major pieces. The matches between the four other second-round leaders ended in draws. Top-seed GM Nihal Sarin of India could only manage half a point against compatriot IM Rohith Krishna in a balanced game. GM Yair Parkhov of Israel also halved the point with IM Nitish Belurkar of India. The four players dropped half a point behind Muradli and Grebnev with 2.5 points said he used an attacking idea employed successfully by Dutchman and last week's winner at Sharjah Masters Anish Giri in a game from last year, at the Tata Steel Masters. 'My opponent was not prepared for this line and he made a few mistakes and missed some tactics,' Grebnev said. Muradli was made to work hard by Lukas, who signalled his aggressive intentions early by offering a pawn sacrifice on the third move, which the defending champion declined. The Austrian launched a menacing king-side assault, prompting Muradli to secure his king on the queen side, but Lukas was running short on time – a factor that played a major role in his eventual loss. Muradli and Grebnev will play on the first board in Friday's fourth round to dispute the solo leadership. In Category B, five players led by Iran's Mahdi Nikookar, the highest-rated player among the leaders, are at the top of the standings with three points each. Nikookar defeated India's Shashish Subbiah for his third straight point. Also with three points are Mukund Agarwal of India, FM Syed Rahman of Bangladesh, Zhang Zhi of China, and Candidate Master (CM) Alankar Vandan of India.
Al Etihad
5 days ago
- Sport
- Al Etihad
Rousing start to 25th Dubai Open Chess Tournament
28 May 2025 00:49 DUBAI/STAVENGER (ALETIHAD)The 25th Dubai Open Chess Tournament got under way on Tuesday with defending champion Grandmaster (GM) Mahammad Muradli of Azerbaijan and reigning Asian junior chess champion GM Aleksey Grebnev off to a rousing start with wins at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. Also winning was Nihal Sarin, right, against Akshay Borgaonkar in an all-Indian clash on the main was the first to get the full point after disposing of International Master (IM) Pham Tran Gia Phuc. The Russian, 18, opted for the Rossolimo Attack against Pham, 16, and then won a pawn on the 18th move when the Vietnamese missed a tactical blow. Grebnev consolidated his advantage and wrapped up the game on the 36th minutes later, Muradli followed Grebnev, the former breezing past Israel's IM Or Bronstein with a sizeable advantage on the board and clock during the course of a victory in 38 moves. Playing the white side of a Catalan game, Muradli won a pawn on the 23rd move and still had over an hour on his clock while Bronstein was already surviving on the 30-second time increment in a knight-vs-bishop field for the silver jubilee of the event comprises 29 GMs and is being held across two categories with more than 180 players from 34 countries taking part. Al Serkal Makes History in NorwayIn a landmark moment for UAE sport and the Arab world, 15-year-old Rouda Al Serkal, the country's first Woman Grandmaster (WGM), made her debut at the prestigious Norway Chess Open tournament in Stavenger. In her opening match, Rouda faced Ukraine's GM Platon Galperin, playing with the white pieces in a tense 56-move encounter. Despite a valiant effort, she lost but Rouda stayed positive. 'It is sad to not start with a win,' Rouda said with a smile. 'But it was also incredibly valuable. Playing at this level is intense, and I know I'll grow from this.' She is competing as a wild card at the home event of Norwegian legend Magnus Carlsen, who is in the main tournament among the world's elite, including Carlsen's successor and world chess champion Gukesh Dommaraju of India. 'She's breaking barriers that we didn't even know existed,' said Kjell Madland, founder and tournament director.
