The 20th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival is being held by the Abu Dhabi Chess & Culture Club and Abu Dhabi Sport Council from 30th June to 8th July at the Sofitel Hotel Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The Festival consists of the Master Tournament (for players rated above 2200 FIDE and Abu Dhabi players), Open Tournament (for U2200 players), Junior Tournament (for U15 players), and Blitz tournament.
The Master Tournament has 48 participants from 18 countries competing. Several female players, namely WGM Dinara Saduakassova, WGM Anda Safranska and WIM Ghader Pour Shayesteh, had a good start as they snatched a couple of draws from the higher rated players in the first round of the tournament.
The Open Tournament is featuring 147 players from 21 federations.
Master Tournament Participants (top seeds):
1 GM Kurnosov Igor RUS 2657
2 GM Istratescu Andrei FRA 2655
3 GM Efimenko Zahar UKR 2651
4 GM Guseinov Gadir AZE 2631
5 GM Volkov Sergey RUS 2613
6 GM Grigoryan Avetik ARM 2605
7 GM Rakhmanov Aleksandr RUS 2602
8 GM Oleksienko Mikhailo UKR 2568
9 GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian ROU 2565
10 GM Malakhatko Vadim BEL 2559
11 GM Papin Vasily RUS 2547
12 GM Vaibhav Suri IND 2535
13 GM Gopal G.N. IND 2522
14 GM Akshayraj Kore IND 2508
15 GM El Gindy Essam EGY 2490
16 IM Shoker Samy EGY 2477
17 GM Berescu Alin-Mile ROU 2461
18 IM Ankit R. Rajpara IND 2428
19 IM Bajarani Ulvi AZE 2417
20 GM Raetsky Alexander RUS 2412
21 GM Lazarev Vladimir FRA 2410
22 IM Karavade Eesha IND 2398
23 IM Tissir Mohamed MAR 2381
24 FM El Adnani Mokliss MAR 2381
25 IM Estremera Panos Sergio ESP 2372
Great event.