Dubai: Defending champion Grandmaster (GM) Gawain Jones of the UK became the first person to win a second title in the Dubai Open Chess Tournament–Shaikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup after emerging champion in one of the most hotly contested editions of the region’s longest-running elite open tournament.
After a risk-free draw with co-leader GM Mustafa Yilmaz of Turkey in Tuesday night’s final round at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club, Jones was crowned the tournament’s 19h champion after he emerged with the highest tiebreak score among seven players tied at the top, which included two other former champions.
Jones employed the Moscow variation against Yilmaz’s Sicilian Defence and proceeded with a hyper-solid Marocy Bind set-up.
After three minor pieces were exchanged, Jones sacrificed the a-pawn on the 21st move, but the game abruptly ended on the 26th move after Yilmaz elected to repeat moves instead of entering a complicated and risky line.
Runner-up
Jones and Yilmaz had seven points each, with the latter taking the runner-up honours having the second-highest tiebreak score.
Venezuela’s GM Eduardo Iturrizaga, the 2010 champion, and Russia’s GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov, the winner in 2013, also had seven points apiece, but settled for fourth and seventh, respectively, after the tiebreaks were applied.
Iturrizaga drew his game in just 26 moves with fellow leader GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi of India, with both players trading off queens and all minor pieces before repeating moves in an equal endgame. Gujrathi picked up third place.
Rakhmanov ended the title hopes of International Master (IM) Jaime Santos Latasa, the leader in the early rounds, after the Russian outplayed the 20-year-old Spaniard in 35 moves of a Semi-Slav opening.
GM Sergei Zhigalko of Belarus and GM Ahmed Adly of Egypt, meanwhile, defeated the top two seeds from Ukraine to also score seven points, but ended up fifth and sixth respectively.
Zhigalko outplayed top-seed GM Anton Korobov, while Adly won over second-seed GM Alexander Areshchenko.
Rounding out the top 15 players who received cash prizes were GM Alexandr Fier of Brazil, GM Bassem Amin of Egypt, GM Pouya Idani of Iran, GM Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko of Ukraine, GM Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia, GM Sandro Mareco of Argentina, Indian prodigy GM Praggnanandhaa R. and Georgia's GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili.
They all had 6.5 points.
UAE players
Fide Master (FM) Saeed Ishaq completed another fruitful campaign when he claimed an IM norm in the tournament — his second of the three required to earn the title.
The reigning UAE champion defeated defeated India’s Vantika Agrawal in the final round to raise his tally to 5.5 points and also pick up the prize as the best player from Dubai. IM Sultan Ibrahim took the second prize for Dubai players with 4.5 points.
GM Salem AR Saleh, who was held to a draw by IM N. R. Vignesh of India to post 5.5 points, claimed the top prize for UAE players with 5.5 points.
Special awards
GM Hesham Abdelrahman of Egypt scored 5.5 points to receive the Arab best player award. India's Candidate Master (CM) Kulkarni Bhakti was the top lady with 5.5 points, edging out second-placer Woman International Master (WIM) Mila Zarkovic of Serbia on tiebreak.
Rating categories
The rating category winners were IM Rathnakaran K. of India (2301-2400 category), Abdul Kader Rayes of Syria (2201-2300), Nishant Malhotra of India (2101-2200), Jeet Jain of India (2001-2100) and Doshi Moksh Amitbhai of India (under 2000).
Awarding ceremony
Jones and the rest of the winners will receive their prizes during the awards ceremony on Wednesday night at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.
The 19th Dubai Open Chess Tournament offers a total cash purse of $50,000, with Jones receiving $13,000 and custody of the Shaikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup.
