Akopian & Ni Hua lead in Dubai
Vladimir Akopian of Armenia and Ni Hua of China are in shared first place after five rounds at the Dubai Open. Both GMs scored 4.5/5 and will meet each other in round 6 on Saturday.
Chief Arbiter Mahdi Abdulrahim watching the top board of round 5: Jobava vs Ni Hua | All photos courtesy of the official website
|
The 14th Dubai Open, also called the Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup, is currently under way in the Dubai Chess & Culture Club. The tournament is named after the Deputy Ruler of Dubai and the Minister of Finance and Industry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The playing hall in Dubai
The prize fund of US $50,000 has attracted a number of strong grandmasters: the top 10 present consists of Baadur Jobava, Loek van Wely, Vladimir Akopian, Ivan Sokolov, Viorel Iordachescu, Abhijeet Gupta, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Tigran Petrosian, Parimarjan Negi and Ni Hua.
The first round saw few upsets but Marcos Marvin (2079) of the Philippines managed to beat GM Georgy Timoshenko (2569) of Ukraine and Shekhar Madhurima (1947) drew with GM Morteza Mahjoob (2455) of Iran. After four rounds only Ni Hua of China still had a 100% score. Here's his round 4 win:
[Event "14th Dubai Open 2012"]
[Site "Dubai UAE"]
[Date "2012.04.18"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Ni, Hua"]
[Black "Kravtsiv, Martyn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A14"]
[WhiteElo "2637"]
[BlackElo "2588"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2012.04.15"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. d4 dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4
Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bf4 a5 11. Nc3 Na6 12. Rac1 Nb4 13. Ne5 Bxg2 14. Kxg2 Nfd5
15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. Bd2 c6 17. Rfd1 Bb4 18. Bxb4 Nxb4 19. e4 Qe7 20. Qc5 Qc7 21.
Nc4 Rfd8 22. Nb6 Ra6 23. d5 h6 24. Rc3 exd5 25. Nxd5 Nxd5 26. Rxd5 Re8 27. Rd4
Qe7 28. Qxe7 Rxe7 29. Rb3 Ra8 30. f4 f6 31. Kf3 Kf7 32. Rb6 Ke8 33. h4 Rd8 34.
Ke3 Rxd4 35. Kxd4 Kd8 36. e5 fxe5+ 37. fxe5 Ke8 38. e6 Rxe6 39. Rxb7 Rg6 40. b4
Rxg3 41. bxa5 Rg4+ 42. Kc5 Rxa4 43. Kb6 g5 44. hxg5 hxg5 45. a6 Kf8 46. a7 g4
47. Rb8+ Kf7 48. a8=Q Rxa8 49. Rxa8 Kf6 50. Ra5 1-0
The next day Vladimir Akopian joined the Chinese in the lead thanks to this win over a compatriot:
[Event "Dubai Open"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2012.04.19"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Akopian, Vladimir"]
[Black "Andriasian, Zaven"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2684"]
[BlackElo "2616"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. O-O g6 5. b3 Bg7 6. Bb2 O-O 7. c4 Bg4 8. d3
Qc8 9. Nbd2 Rd8 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Bxg7 Kxg7 12. Qc2 Bh3 13. e4 Bxg2 14. Kxg2
Nf6 15. d4 Nbd7 16. Rac1 Nf8 17. Qb2 Qb8 18. b4 Kg8 19. b5 cxb5 20. Qxb5 a6 21.
Qb4 Rd7 22. Nc4 Nxe4 23. Nb6 Nd6 24. Rfe1 Qd8 25. Ne5 a5 26. Qc5 Ne6 27. Qd5
Qxb6 28. Nxd7 Qd8 29. Nc5 Nc7 30. Qe5 Nf5 31. Nxb7 Qd5+ 32. Qxd5 Nxd5 33. Rc5
Nb4 34. Rxa5 Rb8 35. Rb1 Nc6 36. Ra6 Nfxd4 37. a4 h5 38. a5 h4 39. Rab6 Kg7 40.
a6 Rh8 41. gxh4 Rxh4 42. Nd8 Ne5 43. a7 Rg4+ 44. Kh1 Nd3 45. R6b2 Nxb2 46. a8=Q
Nd3 47. Qa2 Rf4 48. Qd2 Rf3 49. Kg2 e5 50. Rb7 Nf4+ 51. Kf1 Nh3 52. Qa2 1-0
Vladimir Akopian of Armenia, shared first after five rounds
Two Dutch GMs have some repair work to do: 2nd seed Loek van Wely and 4th seed Ivan Sokolov. Both are on 3/5 after they lost to weaker opponents in round 5. Sokolov seemed to be playing for a win for too long:
[Event "Dubai Open"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2012.04.19"]
[Round "5.9"]
[White "Sokolov, Ivan"]
[Black "Miezis, Normunds"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E38"]
[WhiteElo "2653"]
[BlackElo "2557"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. dxc5 Nc6 6. Nf3 Bxc5 7. Bg5 a6 8. e3
Be7 9. Be2 Qa5 10. O-O h6 11. Bh4 d5 12. Rfd1 dxc4 13. Bxc4 O-O 14. Bb3 Rd8 15.
Rxd8+ Nxd8 16. Rd1 Nc6 17. h3 g5 18. Bg3 Bd7 19. Nd2 Nb4 20. Nc4 Qc5 21. Qb1
Bc6 22. Nd6 Kg7 23. a3 Nbd5 24. Nxd5 Bxd5 25. Bxd5 Nxd5 26. Rc1 Qb6 27. Be5+ f6
28. Nc4 Qd8 29. e4 b5 30. exd5 bxc4 31. d6 Bxd6 32. Bxd6 Qxd6 33. Rxc4 Rd8 34.
Qe4 f5 35. Qe3 Kf6 36. b4 Qd3 37. Rc6 Qxe3 38. fxe3 a5 39. Rc3 axb4 40. axb4
Rd1+ 41. Kf2 Rb1 42. Rc4 Rb2+ 43. Kf3 h5 44. g4 fxg4+ 45. hxg4 h4 46. Rd4 Rb1
47. Rc4 Rg1 48. Kf2 Rb1 49. Kf3 Rb2 50. Rd4 Rb1 51. Rc4 Re1 52. Kf2 h3 53. Kg3
Rxe3+ 54. Kh2 Ke5 55. Rc5+ Kf4 56. Rc4+ Ke5 57. Rc5+ Kf4 58. Rc4+ Kf3 59. Kxh3
Rb3 60. Rc5 e5 61. b5 Kf4+ 62. Kg2 e4 63. Rc4 Rxb5 0-1
In his favorite Scheveningen, Van Wely faced an exchange sacrifice that looked incorrect at first sight, but proved successful in practice:
[Event "Dubai Open"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2012.04.19"]
[Round "5.8"]
[White "Atabayev, Yusup"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B85"]
[WhiteElo "2404"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Be3 a6 9. a4 Nc6 10. f4 Qc7 11. Qe1 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 e5 13. Be3 exf4 14. Bxf4 Be6
15. Qg3 Ne8 16. Be3 Bf6 17. Rxf6 Nxf6 18. Bd4 Ne8 19. Bd3 f6 20. Nd5 Bxd5 21.
exd5 g6 22. a5 Ng7 23. c4 Rae8 24. b4 Nh5 25. Qf3 f5 26. c5 Nf6 27. c6 Ng4 28.
b5 axb5 29. Bxb5 Ne5 30. Qb3 Qg7 31. Rd1 Re7 32. Qb4 Qf6 33. cxb7 Rxb7 34. a6
Rbb8 35. a7 Ra8 36. Bc6 Nxc6 37. dxc6 Qf7 38. Qxd6 Rfd8 39. Qe5 Rxd4 40. Qxd4
Qxa7 41. c7 1-0
"KingLoek" van Wely started disappointingly
Tournament leaders Akopian and Ni Hua will face each other on Saturday morning with the Chinese behind the white pieces. Later that day the 7th round will also be played, then round 8 on Sunday and the last round on Monday.
14th Dubai Open | Round 5 standings
| Rk. | Title | Name | Rtg | FED | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 |
| 1 | GM | Ni Hua | 2637 | CHN | 4.5 | 10229 | 0.0 | 16.5 | 10.5 |
| 2 | GM | Akopian Vladimir | 2684 | ARM | 4.5 | 10066 | 0.0 | 15.5 | 10.0 |
| 3 | GM | Jobava Baadur | 2706 | GEO | 4.0 | 10233 | 0.0 | 17.5 | 11.0 |
| 4 | GM | Petrosian Tigran L | 2643 | ARM | 4.0 | 10186 | 0.0 | 18.0 | 11.5 |
| 5 | GM | Mchedlishvili Mikheil | 2626 | GEO | 4.0 | 10046 | 0.0 | 15.0 | 9.0 |
| 6 | GM | Pantsulaia Levan | 2595 | GEO | 4.0 | 9981 | 0.0 | 14.5 | 9.0 |
| 7 | GM | Miroshnichenko Evgenij | 2624 | UKR | 4.0 | 9965 | 0.0 | 14.0 | 9.0 |
| 8 | GM | Baklan Vladimir | 2612 | UKR | 4.0 | 9853 | 0.0 | 14.5 | 8.5 |
| 9 | GM | Miezis Normunds | 2557 | LAT | 4.0 | 9824 | 0.0 | 16.5 | 9.5 |
| 10 | GM | Gopal G N | 2572 | IND | 4.0 | 9805 | 0.0 | 16.0 | 10.0 |
| 11 | GM | Sandipan Chanda | 2595 | IND | 4.0 | 9761 | 0.0 | 16.0 | 10.0 |
| 12 | GM | Iordachescu Viorel | 2644 | MDA | 4.0 | 9727 | 0.0 | 14.5 | 8.5 |
| 13 | GM | Kuzubov Yuriy | 2615 | UKR | 4.0 | 9690 | 0.0 | 15.5 | 9.0 |
| 14 | FM | Atabayev Yusup | 2404 | TKM | 4.0 | 9669 | 0.0 | 13.0 | 7.5 |
| 15 | GM | Zhou Weiqi | 2628 | CHN | 4.0 | 9647 | 0.0 | 14.5 | 8.5 |
| 16 | GM | Negi Parimarjan | 2639 | IND | 4.0 | 9604 | 0.0 | 14.5 | 9.0 |
| 17 | GM | Amin Bassem | 2608 | EGY | 4.0 | 9578 | 0.0 | 14.0 | 8.5 |
| 18 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet | 2643 | IND | 4.0 | 9533 | 0.0 | 14.0 | 8.5 |
| 19 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2633 | IND | 4.0 | 9526 | 0.0 | 15.0 | 9.5 |
| 20 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | 2600 | ARM | 4.0 | 9199 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 7.5 |
| 21 | IM | Vishnu Prasanna V | 2406 | IND | 3.5 | 10135 | 0.0 | 14.5 | 8.5 |
| 22 | GM | Andriasian Zaven | 2616 | ARM | 3.5 | 10050 | 0.0 | 17.0 | 10.0 |
| 23 | Ankit R Rajpara | 2399 | IND | 3.5 | 9994 | 0.0 | 14.5 | 9.0 | |
| 24 | IM | Ahmadinia Ebrahim | 2379 | IRI | 3.5 | 9884 | 0.0 | 15.0 | 9.5 |
| 25 | GM | Arutinian David | 2553 | GEO | 3.5 | 9877 | 0.0 | 14.5 | 8.5 |
| 26 | IM | Shyam Nikil P | 2490 | IND | 3.5 | 9766 | 0.0 | 15.0 | 9.0 |
| 27 | IM | Nitin S | 2420 | IND | 3.5 | 9705 | 0.0 | 14.5 | 8.5 |
| 28 | GM | Kovchan Alexander | 2598 | UKR | 3.5 | 9702 | 0.0 | 14.0 | 8.0 |
| 29 | GM | Ghaem Maghami Ehsan | 2581 | IRI | 3.5 | 9629 | 0.0 | 15.5 | 9.5 |
| 30 | GM | Volkov Sergey | 2623 | RUS | 3.5 | 9601 | 0.0 | 14.5 | 9.0 |
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!
Company Contact and News Accreditation:
Email: peter@chess.com FOR SUPPORT PLEASE USE chess.com/support!
Phone: 1 (800) 318-2827
Address: 877 E 1200 S #970397, Orem, UT 84097
