Dubai: Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly of India beat top seed Yuriy Kryvoruchko of the Ukraine to widen his lead with six-and-a-half points from seven rounds in the homestretch of the Dubai Open Chess Championship at Dubai Chess Club on Sunday.
Ganguly, 35, essayed the English opening against Kryvoruchko, 31, and outmanoeuvred the former Ukrainian champion in an opposite-coloured bishop endgame. Kryvoruchko resigned after a marathon 84 moves facing an unstoppable pawn promotion.
Ganguly hails from Kolkata and is a former 2009 Asian Continental champion. He was also a gold medallist in the 2007 Asian Indoor Games and the 2010 World Chess Team Championship.
Seven Grandmasters are a full point behind with five-and-a-half points each, namely S.P. Sethuraman of India, Alexander Zubov of the Ukraine, Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli of Venezuela, Ahmad Adly of Egypt, Diego Flores of Argentina, Emre Can of Turkey and Parhgam Maghsodloo of Iran.
Kryvoruchko and eight others follow with five points each in the race for $50,000 in cash prizes. The tournament is held under the Patronage of Shaikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and runs from April 1-12.
A record 164 players from 33 countries are seeing action in the tournament including 36 grandmasters, 24 international masters, five women grandmasters, seven women international masters, 16 FIDE masters and four women FIDE masters.
For more information, visit www.dubaichess.ae or find full results and standings on chess-results.com.
