Al Ain: Seeded Grandmasters and higher-rated players won their early assignments in the third Al Ain Chess Classic at the Hili Rotana hotel in Al Ain. Top seed Yuriy Kryvoruchko of Ukraine led the list with perfect scores after two rounds of the nine-round Swiss System event.
In the lead with 2 points each are GM Grover Sahaj, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, G.N. Gopal and IM Shardul Gagare of India, Yuriy Kuzubov and Alexander Areshchenko, Evgenij Miroshnichenko, Vladimir Onishuk and Mikhailo Oleksienko of Ukraine, Sergei Zhigalko of Belarus, Tigran Petrosyan and Samuel Ter Sahakyan of Armenia, Samuel Shankand of USA, GM Luka Paichadze of Georgia, Zaur Mammadov and Ulvi Bajarani of Azerbaijan,
Keeping pace with the higher rated players is woman titlist Sarasadat Khademalsharieh of Iran.
At stake in the tournament is a total of $50,000 (Dh183,657) in cash prizes. A strong field of 150 players including 43 Grandmasters, nine Woman Grandmasters and 14 International Masters have come from 27 countries.
Aside from the host country, India has the largest delegation with 31 players followed by Azerbaijan with 23, and Ukraine and Iran with 11 each.
Games are broadcast live at the alainchess.com web site with results and standings in chess-results.com.
