16th Dubai Open Chess Championship – Round 3

Round 3
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Former Dubai Open champion GM Abhijeet Gupta of India and five other Grandmasters share the lead with perfect scores after three rounds of the 16th Dubai Open Chess Championship at the Dubai Chess Club in Dubai, UAE.

Gupta crushed the Nimzo Indian defense of compatriot GM Grover Sahaj in 58 moves to register 3 points in a tie for the lead with GMs Edouard Romain of France, Alex Bachmann of Paraguay, Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela and Anuar Ismagambetov of Kazakhstan, and FM Hatim Al-Hadarani of Yemen.

Romain used the Queen’s Gambit Accepted to turn back GM Pavel Kotsur of Kazakhstan in 46 moves. Ismagambetov beat GM Baseem Amin of Egypt in 42 moves of a Ruy Lopez game. Iturrizaga smashed the King’s Indian Defense of GM Pontus Carlsson of Sweden in 35 moves. Bachmann needed only 29 moves of a Catalan opening to beat untitled 15-year-old V. Karthik of India.

FIDE Master Hatim Al-Hadarani of Yemen continued his giant killing ways. Al-Hadarani used the Colle System to penetrate with his major artillery and threaten mate against GM Rinat Jumabayev of Kazakhstan in 32 moves. Al-Hadarani had beaten GM Goran Dizdar of Croatia in the previous round.

Eighteen players follow with 2-1/2 points each in the race for $50,000 in cash prizes. A total of 143 players from 39 countries are competing in the 9-round Swiss system tournament.

Games are scheduled 5:30 pm daily except on the rest day, Friday, when there will be a blitz tournament. The strong field includes 38 Grandmasters and 8 Woman Grandmasters, 16 International Masters, 3 Woman International Masters, 10 FIDE Masters and 5 Woman FIDE Masters.

The tournament is scheduled until 16th April at the Dubai Culture and Chess Club. Top boards are broadcast live at theDubai Chess Club web site with photo gallery, games download and links to video coverage on Youtube for roundsone, two and three. See results and standings in chess-results.com.

The clash of leaders in the next round pit GM Edouard Romain against GM Axel Bachmann, GM Ismagambetov vs. GM Iturrizaga and FM Al-Hadarani against GM Gupta.

Cash prizes shall be awarded the top 16 places with a top prize of $10,000 for the champion. Special prizes shall be awarded to Arab players and ladies, local players and club players, and for the blitz tournament.