Stunning upsets mark start of Dubai Open chessfest

DUBAI, UAE — The 19th Dubai Open Chess Tournament–Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup got off to an explosive start with actioned-packed, first-round games producing two stunning upsets at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.

A new record number of 216 players from 43 countries are taking part in the Middle East’s longest-running elite open chess tournament, including 46 grandmasters. The opening ceremony was attended by Nasser Al Rahma, Assistant Secretary-General of the Dubai Sports Council, Ibrahim Al Bannai, Chairman of the Dubai Chess and Culture Club, and Mahdi Abdul Rahim, Assistant Secretary-General of the UAE Chess Federation, who marked the start of the tournament by executing the ceremonial opening move on the first-board match between Ukrainian top-seed Grandmaster (GM) Anton Korobov and the unheralded 109th-seed Vusal Abbasov of Azerbaijan.

Living up to their top-board billing, Korobov and Abbasov immediately went to work, dishing out a complex Najdorf variation of the Sicilian Defence. Abbasov, playing white, went all in with an aggressive set-up, developing his light-squared bishop to c4 and then to the b3 square, followed by a pawn push to g4 on the eighth move.

The top-seed reacted poorly against white’s menacing attack and was too slow to organise a counter offensive on the queenside. By move 16, black’s kingside was already seriously under pressure of being overrun by a vicious pawn storm. The Azerbaijani underdog went on to punish Korobov’s lackadaisical play with a crushing bishop sacrifice on move 18. Abbasov then quelled a belated counterattack by Korobov along the a1-h8 diagonal before forcing resignation on the 32nd move.

The UAE’s 13th-seed GM Salem A.R. Saleh also suffered a huge upset loss in the opening round after pushing too hard against 11-year-old Indian sensation V Pranav. Playing the black side of a Four Knights opening, Saleh sacrificed a pawn for the initiative, but he misplayed the middle game, allowing Pranav to gradually consolidate his position and win more material. Saleh tried to complicate matters with a desperate kingside attack, but the Indian youngster kept his composure to secure the full point after 59 moves.

The rest of the top-seeded players, meanwhile, had no problems disposing off their lower-rated opponents, with second-seed GM Alexander Areshchenko of Ukraine outplaying the Philippines’ Francis Erwin Dimarucut, third-seed GM Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan defeating India’s Malhotra Nishant and fourth-seed GM David Anton Guijarro winning over India’s Candidate Master (CM) Mittal Aditya.

The titled players from the Philippines won as expected over lesser lights, with IM Kim Steven Yap defeating India's Nair Sanjeev and IM Oliver Dimakiling outplaying Doshi Moksh Amitbhai also of India. IM Haridas Pascua defeated Woman Fide Master (WFM) Gozel Atabayeva of Turkmenistan.

The rest of the Filipino players were not as fortunate: Marvin Marcos bowed to 12th-seed GM Sandro Mareco of Argentina, Rolando Gangozo lost to the tournament's 2011 edition champion and 19th-seed GM Abhijeet Gupta of India, Marlon Mortel yielded to the young Chinese IM Xu Xiangyu, Dandel Fernandez lost to 11-year-old Indian prodigy R Praggnanandhaa, who last year became the world's youngest international master at the age of 10, and Danilo Reyes lost to FM Mikhail Kuznetsov of Russia.

Yesterday's second round was still in progress at press time, with Yap taking on a tough assignment against 2010 champion GM Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela. Pascua and Dimakiling were up against untitled Indian players Saksham Rautela and Mohammed Fawwaaz. (FREEMAN)