Latest news with #Muradli
Gulf Today
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
Grebnev reclaims solo leadership with two rounds to go in Dubai chess tourney
Grandmaster (GM) Aleksey Grebnev of Russia once again distanced himself from the field with a hard-fought win against International Master (IM) S. Rohith Krishna of India in Monday night's seventh round of the 25th Dubai Open Chess Tournament at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. Grebnev captalised on a series of blunders by Krishna in what was otherwise an equal position to dispose of his erstwhile co-leader and take the tournament lead with six points. The 18-year-old Russian is trailed closely by two other teenage grandmasters three years his junior - his compatriot Ivan Zemlyanskii and Sina Movahed of Iran, who both have 5.5 points. Movahed, who turned 15 last week during the tournament's opening day, and Zemlyanskii, two months shy of his 15th birthday in August, scored the biggest scalps of the round after defeating defending champion GM Mahammad Muradli and top-seed GM Nihal Sarin, respectively. Movahed inflicted Muradli's second consecutive loss in the tournament. Muradli was on the backpedal right out of the opening as Movahed sacrificed a pawn to weaken the Azerbaijani's kingside defence. Movahed, however, could not find the precise continuation to convert his advantage until a greedy pawn grab by Muradli on the 39th move allowed the Iranian to launch an overwhelming attack with all his pieces contributing to the onslaught. Muradli resigned three moves later. After being held by two consecutive draws, Nihal, playing the black pieces, once again took big risks to play for a win. The ploy initially worked as he started to create weaknesses around white's kingside, but the Indian failed to find the most accurate way to sustain the offensive, allowing Zemlyanskii to force an exchange of queens that neutralised the attack and left him a pawn up in the endgame. Grebnev will have the black pieces as he tries to protect his lead when he faces Movahed in the next round. In Category B, Fide Master (FM) Mahdi Nikookar of Iran ended his perfect run after a draw with Sri Lanka's Pesandu Rashmitha Liyanage in the seventh round. Nikookar, however, remains the solo leader with 6.5 points, followed by Liyanage and Indian Candidate Master (CM) Alankar Sawai Vandan with six points each. Vandan defeated Armenia's Davit Baghdasaryan. 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. 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, International Master (IM) S Rohith Krishna of India defeated defending champion GM Mahammad Muradli to rise to the top of the standings in a tie with Grandmaster (GM) Aleksey Grebnev after Sunday night's sixth round. Grebnev drew with top-seed GM Nihal Sarin on the first board, allowing Krishna to join him for the lead with five points each. Nihal remains in joint second place with 4.5 points, alongside his compatriot GM Bharath Subramaniyam, GM Zemlyanskii, GM Shant Sargsyan, and GM Movahed. Muradli sacrificed a pawn on move six in a delayed Benko Gambit and a few moves later the game reached a position that was previously seen in a game between world number two Hikaru Nakamura and former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov. Muradli, however, deviated on move 13, a questionable decision that allowed Krishna to gain time to reinforce his central pawns and plant an uncontested knight on the c4-square, the white knight's ideal outpost in the Benko Gambit.
Gulf Today
03-06-2025
- Sport
- Gulf Today
Krishna beats holder Muradli, goes on top in Dubai chess tourney
International Master (IM) S Rohith Krishna of India defeated defending champion GM Mahammad Muradli of Azerbaijan to rise to the top of the standings in a tie with Grandmaster (GM) Aleksey Grebnev of Russia after Sunday night's sixth round of the 25th Dubai Open Chess Tournament at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. Grebnev, the overnight solo leader, drew with top-seed GM Nihal Sarin on the first board, allowing Krishna to join him for the lead with five points each. The two players will face each other in the seventh round. Nihal remains in joint second place with 4.5 points, alongside his compatriot GM Bharath Subramaniyam, GM Ivan Zemlyanskii of Russia, GM Shant Sargsyan of Armenia, and GM Sina Movahed of Iran. Muradli, playing black, sacrificed a pawn on move six in a delayed Benko Gambit and a few moves later the game reached a position that was previously seen in a game between world number two Hikaru Nakamura and former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov. Muradli, however, deviated on move 13, a questionable decision that allowed Krishna to gain time to reinforce his central pawns and plant an uncontested knight on the c4-square, the white knight's ideal outpost in the Benko Gambit. It was all downhill from thereon for Muradli as Krishna managed to create a powerful passed pawn on the a-file and a strong initiative in the queenside. Muradli sacrificed his rook for a bishop and to eliminate the dangerous passed pawn, while pinning his hopes on his passer on the c-file, but Krishna's two rooks proved more than a match for Muradli's bishop-and-rook combo in the endgame. Sarin took risks to unbalance the position and create chances against Grebnev, leaving his king in the center and launching a kingside pawn storm, but the Russian defended accurately and the game ended in a draw by repetition of moves. In Category B, Fide Master (FM) Mahdi Nikookar of Iran won his sixth straight game to remain the only player with a perfect score in the tournament. Nikookar defeated Candidate Master (CM) Allayar Shirliyev of Turkmenistan for his sixth point, half a point ahead of Sri Lanka's Pesandu Rashmitha Liyanage, who has 5.5 points after winning over FM Sajid Sakline Mostafa of Bangladesh. CM Alankar Sawai Vandan of India and Davit Baghdasaryan of Armenia are in joint third place with five points each. 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 team & 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 Earlier, 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.
Al Etihad
02-06-2025
- Sport
- Al Etihad
Indian IM stuns Dubai Open chess title holder to move into joint lead
2 June 2025 19:37 DUABI (ALETIHAD)International Master (IM) S Rohith Krishna of India defeated defending champion GM Mahammad Muradli of Azerbaijan to rise to the top of the standings in a tie with Grandmaster (GM) Aleksey Grebnev of Russia after the sixth round of the 25th Dubai Open Chess Tournament at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. Grebnev, the overnight solo leader, drew with top-seed GM Nihal Sarin on the first board, allowing Krishna to join him for the lead with five points each. Nihal remains in joint second place with 4.5 points, alongside his compatriot GM Bharath Subramaniyam, GM Ivan Zemlyanskii of Russia, GM Shant Sargsyan of Armenia, and GM Sina Movahed of Iran. Muradli, playing black, sacrificed a pawn on the sixth move in a delayed Benko Gambit and a few moves later the game reached a position that was previously seen in a game between world No.2 Hikaru Nakamura and former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov. Muradli, however, deviated on move 13, a questionable decision that allowed Krishna to gain time to reinforce his central pawns and plant an uncontested knight on the c4-square, the white knight's ideal outpost in the Benko Gambit. It was all downhill from thereon for Muradli as Krishna managed to create a powerful passed pawn on the a-file and a strong initiative in the queenside. Muradli sacrificed his rook for a bishop and to eliminate the dangerous passed pawn, while pinning his hopes on his passer on the c-file, but Krishna's two rooks proved more than a match for Muradli's bishop-and-rook combo in the endgame. Sarin took risks to unbalance the position and create chances against Grebnev, leaving his king in the centre and launching a kingside pawn storm, but the Russian defended accurately and the game ended in a draw by repetition of moves. In Category B, Fide Master (FM) Mahdi Nikookar of Iran won his sixth straight game to remain the only player with a perfect score in the tournament. Nikookar defeated Candidate Master (CM) Allayar Shirliyev of Turkmenistan for his sixth point, half a point ahead of Sri Lanka's Pesandu Rashmitha Liyanage, who has 5.5 points after winning over FM Sajid Sakline Mostafa of Bangladesh. CM Alankar Sawai Vandan of India and Davit Baghdasaryan of Armenia are in joint third place with five points each.
Gulf Today
31-05-2025
- 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
29-05-2025
- 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.
