Opens in Sydney, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur
Just like last week we'll update you on some open tournaments that have finished recently. GM Bojkov won in Sydney, GM Hou Yifan in Kuala Lumpur and GM Iturrizaga in Dubai. Details, standings and games.Sydney Open
The Sydney Open was held just after the Doeberl Cup, from April 6 to 11, and so several participants travelled from the Australian capital to Sydney to try their luck again at the 64 squares. A total of 128 players entered (77 in the Open group, 51 in the Challengers). The average rating of the Open field was 2131, including 10 GMs, 8 IMs, 3 FMs, 3 WIMs and 1 WFM. Venue was the Parramatta Town Hall in Sydney. The prize fund totalled A$14,000 (€9,636 or US $13,073). Principal sponsor was GM Murray Chandler. Just like the Doeberl Cup, the Sydney Open was a 9-round Swiss.Australian champion GM Zhao Zong-Yuan and GM Gawain Jones from England drew quickly in the last round to secure a tied first place. Doeberl Cup winner GM Li Chao from China lost to GM Vladimir Malaniuk, and so only GM Dejan Bojkov from Bulgaria could theoretically join Zhao and Jones. He did so, by beating GM Barua with Black, and eventually was declared winner on Buchholz.
Dubai Open
The 12th Dubai Open, also 9-round Swiss, took place April 4-14 at the Dubai Chess & Culture Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. At stake was the Sheikh Rashed Bin Hamdan Al Mactoum Cup and a total prize fund of US $45,000. The tournament ended in a tie between 8 players who finished on 7/9, after the three leading players on 6.5/8 drew in the last round. The young GM from Venezuela Eduardo Iturrizaga took first place on tie-break. Top seeds GM Gabriel Sargissian and GM Vladimir Baklan ended on 6.5/9.
Kuala Lumpur Open
The 3rd Malaysian International Open was held April 7-12 at the Olympic Sports Hotel in the capital Kuala Lumpur. It was a 9-round Swiss held over 6 days. The tournament attracted a record of 53 titled players, including 12 GMs, 4 WGMs, 18 IMs, 2 WIMs, 11 FMs and 6 WFMs.Top seed was Georgian GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil, but it was star attraction GM Hou Yifan from China who won convincingly. She started the last round with a full point lead over a pack of 6 players, and by drawing with GM Megaranto from Indonesia she secured first place, and a prize of 10,000 Malaysian ringgits (€ 2,307 or US $3,130). GM Nguyen Anh Dung from Vietnam and top seed Mchedlishvili won their crucial last round encounter against GM Iuldashev Saidali & GM Murshed Niaz respectively to secure 2nd and 3rd place with a score of 7/9.
All games of the three winners
Game viewer by ChessTempoLinks
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.”
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