A total of 39 Grand Masters, 17 International Masters and 3 FIDE Masters will take part in the Masters Competition of the 15th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival, to commence from August 14.
The prizes of the festival were increased to Dh90,000 this year as the venue of the competition has been shifted, for the first time, from the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation to Al Khalidiya Palace Hotel.
The organisers, the Abu Dhabi Chess and Cultural Club, had decided that no player of less than 2200 ELO ratings will take part in the Masters competition as GM Mokhamyarov Shahrayan from Azerbaijan leads the seedings with 2646 ELO rating while other contenders include: IM Pavel from Belarus, GM Alexander Alexey and IM Kobalia, both from Russia, IM Gaymogami, Iran, IM Ganguly, from India, IM Niazi Murshid from Bangladesh and IM Parsov from Uzbekistan.
The competitions of the festival will be held from 9 rounds applying the Swiss format of competition and tie breaking and the competitions include:the Open Tournament for 150 players and the Children competition for under 12 which will also feature competitors from India, the Arab countries, Iran, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Azerbaijan.
Registration for the different competitions is open at the premises of the ADCCC or via telephone:02-6331110.
