Pre-tournament favorites GM Ivan Sokolov of the Netherlands, GM Salem A.R. Saleh of the UAE and three other grandmasters maintain perfect slates
Dubai, UAE – Only eight players, including five grandmasters (GM), remain with perfect scores after four rounds of the 12th Allegiance to Zayed Chess Tournament at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Hamdan Bin Rashid hall of the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.
Top-seed GM Ivan Sokolov from the Netherlands and the UAE’s second-seed GM Salem A.R. Saleh won both of their matches in the third and fourth rounds Monday night to maintain immaculate four-point slates along with third-seed GM Victor Moskalenko of Spain, and Azerbaijan’s fifth-seed GM Elmar Magerramov and sixth-seed GM Ulvi Bajarani.
Fourth-seed GM Davorin Kuljasevic of Croatia, however, failed to show up for both his matches because of an illness, and remains at two points. However, he is expected to return to action for Tuesday night’s rounds five and six.
Play chess online/ Chess Arena Video Channel
Against some of Dubai’s top non-masters in the fourth round, the grandmasters continue to manifest their dominance in the event as Sokolov disposed of 18th-seed Marvin Marcos of the Philippines, while Saleh outplayed 19th-seed Fide Master (FM) Antonio Molina Sr. also of the Philippines. Moskalenko won over 24th-seed Candidate Master (CM) Haridas K. of India, Magerramov defeated Mohammed Ahmed Boshara of Sudan and Bajarani beat 21st-seed Ernesto Yap of the Philippines.
Dubai Chess and Culture Club’s FM Nabil Saleh, the eleventh seed, also has four points with a win over India’s Samyuktha Harikrishnan in the fourth round. Seventh-seed Talal Hilwani and 14th-seed Abdul Kader Raes, both of Syria, complete the cast of leaders following wins over Dubai standout Aysha Jehad and Saleem Shalol Hesham of Iraq respectively.
The fifth round will see the tournament’s first all-grandmaster match as Sokolov faces off with Bajarani at the top board. Salem Saleh will take on Hilwani, Moskalenko is paired with Nabil Saleh and Magerramov will play Raes.
Five players trail the leaders with 3.5 points each, led by ninth-seed International Master (IM) Mehrshad Sharif of France, who rebounded from a second-round draw with two straight wins. FM Abdo Somoff, the 27th-seed from Lebanon who upset Egyptian eighth-seed IM Ali Farahat in the third round, and Russian 10th-seed FM Roman Zemtsov drew their fourth-round match to likewise tally 3.5 points each. Indian junior player Anusweud Sasikumar held the UAE’s Woman International Master (WIM) Nora Saleh to a draw to also post 3.5 points. Nora Saleh has three points to share the 14th to 47th places with a host of other players.
Russian 15th-seed Sergey Ermachkov won over India’s Devnani Kush in the fourth round to complete the chasing pack of 3.5-pointers.
The nine-round Swiss system tournament will run until June 25 with two games on each playing date from 10.30pm. Each player is allotted 15 minutes plus a three-second increment per move to complete a game. International Arbiter (IA) Saeed Yousuf Shakari is the tournament director, while IA Mahdi Abdulrahim is the chief arbiter.
A total of 181 players have signed up for the tournament, which will award the Allegiance to Zayed Chess Tournament Cup and cash prize to the champion. The rest of the top ten will also receive cash prizes. There are also special men’s and ladies’ awards for the top UAE players and top players from Dubai.
Standings after 4 rounds:
1 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2607 4
2 GM Bajarani Ulvi AZE 2476 4
3 GM Moskalenko Viktor ESP 2547 4
4 GM Magerramov Elmar AZE 2516 4
5 FM Saleh Nabil UAE 2249 4
6 Hilwani Talal SYR 2404 4
7 Raes Abdul Kader SYR 2194 4
8 GM Sokolov Ivan NED 2621 4
9 IM Sharif Mehrshad FRA 2375 3,5
10 FM Somoff Abdo LIB 1999 3,5
11 FM Zemtsov Roman RUS 2301 3,5
12 Ermachkov Sergey RUS 2178 3,5
13 Sasikumar Anusweud IND 1888 3,5
14 Hesham Saleem Shalol IRQ 1900 3
15 IM Farahat Ali EGY 2375 3
16 Marcos Marvin PHI 2115 3
17 FM Elmejbri Ali A. LBA 1936 3
18 CM Haridas K. IND 2035 3
19 Sameir Ramez EGY 2011 3
20 Manjunath J. IND 2010 3
21 FM Molina Antonio PHI 2088 3
22 Matutina Mark PHI 2036 3
23 Ahmed Fareed UAE 1891 3
24 Jehad Aysha UAE 1552 3
25 Mahmoud Ahmed UAE 1744 3
26 WIM Saleh Nora Mohd UAE 1860 3
27 Sohib Okla SYR 2173 3
28 CM Saleh Nagueb UAE 2211 3
29 Mahmoud Haitham SUD 1986 3
30 Abdulla Abdulwahab UAE 1932 3
31 Dhyaa A. K. Al-Sandooq IRQ 1734 3
32 Majed Ali Abdouli UAE 1700 3
33 Yap Ernesto M. PHI 2067 3
34 Hamdan Marshool UAE 1799 3
35 Tabada Jobannie C. PHI 2210 3
36 Harikrishnan Samyuktha IND 1549 3
37 Ashraf Ahmed Ramadan EGY 1871 3
38 Khezrian Mohammad USA 1517 3
39 Boshara Mohammed Ahmed SUD 1815 3
40 Jamal Amin Omer UAE 1552 3
41 Mohamed Marshool UAE 1668 3
42 Mohammed Shereef M V IND 1751 3
43 Perez Richard PHI 1756 3
44 Johny P IND 1959 3
45 SANTHOSH PURUSHOTHAMAN IND 2017 3
46 Omar Mohammad Al Taher UAE 1455 3
47 Ali Abdulaziz UAE 1736 3
48 Murad Abdulla UAE 1764 2,5
49 Abdulla Ali UAE 1719 2,5
50 Arun Hariharan C.R. IND 2036 2,5
51 Devnani Kush IND 0 2,5
52 Hamad Essam UAE 1361 2,5
53 Mosallam Mohammad UAE 1523 2,5
54 Madduri Satya Tejeswar IND 0 2,5
55 Nowroozian Nader IRI 1651 2,5
56 Danilo Reyes G. PHI 0 2,5
57 Abd Alhafeez Mohamed Ahmed SUD 1855 2,5
58 Saif Ahmed UAE 1370 2,5
59 Al-Mallahi Dawood UAE 1539 2,5
60 CM Ihsan Jawad PLE 2088 2
61 GM Kuljasevic Davorin CRO 2546 2
62 Solano Rayjan PHI 1689 2
63 Shareef Ahmad Siddiqui IND 1615 2
64 Tellefsen Jan NOR 0 2
65 Khaled Ahmed Y. UAE 1657 2
66 Mridul Thaivalappil M. IND 1337 2
67 Talal Al-Hammadi UAE 1643 2
68 Al Falahi Ziad Tarik Mohammad IRQ 1381 2
69 Irfan S IND 1726 2
70 Salem Ahmed Salem UAE 1575 2
71 Faisal Ali UAE 1532 2
72 Hamad Bader UAE 1333 2
73 Ronald Pernez PHI 1513 2
74 Sai Krishna Suresh Kumar IND 1329 2
75 Sultan Fareed UAE 1540 2
76 Vasanthakumar N IND 1468 2
77 Fawwaz Mohammed IND 1298 2
78 Shahzad Asif PAK 1703 2
79 Kumar Ayanesh IND 0 2
80 Cruz Christopher PHI 1820 2
Rahul Raghuveer IND 1514 2
Naidu Harish IND 1472 2
Zayed Sultan Al Taher UAE 1115 2
84 Al-Hammadi Maryam Hussein UAE 1295 2
85 Abdulla Shaeri UAE 1620 2
86 Dimarucut Francis Erwin PHI 2118 2
87 Aditya Vijay Kumar IND 1413 2
88 Mohammed Ghalia UAE 1296 2
89 Ebrahim Ahmed Ebrahim UAE 1202 2
90 Adityavi Swanathan IND 0 2
91 Alterado Israel Franklin PHI 0 2
92 Rameshwar Chaturvedi FID 0 2
93 Abdulla Aref UAE 0 2
94 Abeer Ali UAE 1572 2
95 Khalil Reem UAE 1083 2
96 Naik Atharv IND 1279 2
97 Wahdani Mahmood Abdulla IRI 0 2
98 Abou Ghazi Aiman SYR 1588 2
99 Lootah Feddah Mohamad UAE 1222 2
100 Raji Sayel Abu Azizah PLE 1054 2
101 Abdulrahim Salem UAE 1305 2
102 Hamdan Saeed Ali UAE 1127 2
103 Hamed Ahmed Yousef UAE 1438 2
104 Yasmin Ali UAE 1399 2
105 Binu Sebastian IND 1405 2
106 Abdulghafoor Rashed UAE 1542 2
107 Rajesh Vasanthakumar IND 1530 2
108 Faraj Mariam UAE 1036 2
109 Alia Ali UAE 1315 2
110 Ganesan, Ramesh 0 2
111 Mira Sarhan UAE 1273 2
112 Rayan Mohammad Ali Hassan UAE 1207 2
113 Fatima Saif Al-Ali UAE 1182 2
114 Khalifa Essa Albalooshi UAE 0 2
115 Karthik Praveen IND 0 2
116 Hamad Abdul Razzaq UAE 1891 1,5
117 Mohamed Eissa UAE 1853 1,5
118 Aaditya Hari Krishnan IND 1653 1,5
119 Dalvi Sharjeel FID 0 1,5
120 Abdulrahman Mohammad Al Taher UAE 1354 1,5
121 Ali Sayel Abu Azizah PLE 0 1,5
122 Mathew George IND 0 1,5
123 Almaini Aishah Sarhan UAE 1308 1
124 Paul Emerson Gicale PHI 1632 1
125 Saeed Rashed UAE 1326 1
126 Anood Ahmad UAE 0 1
127 Alur Varun IND 1344 1
128 Al Hosani Sara UAE 0 1
129 Singh Shiven UAE 0 1
130 Nour Saleh Jasim UAE 1054 1
131 Khalil Hanan UAE 1048 1
132 Ali Hassan, ALMARZOOQI UAE 0 1
133 Shaikha Anwar UAE 1061 1
134 Rodha Faraj UAE 1258 1
135 Al Ali Aisha Saif UAE 1503 1
136 Hind Faraj UAE 1275 1
137 Ahlam Rashed UAE 0 1
138 Kaltham Anwar UAE 0 1
139 Sriram Venkatesan IND 0 1
140 Vishal Choudary B IND 0 1
141 Soud Jaber UAE 0 1
142 Aisha Mohamed Al Muaini UAE 0 1
143 Atul Babu IND 0 1
144 Ahmed Aldorabi UAE 0 1
145 Abdulaziz Saleh UAE 1204 1
146 Arifdjanov Jafarbek UZB 0 1
147 Mmohamad A Yousuf UAE 0 1
148 Ramchandani, Yash 0 1
149 Jawaher Khalil UAE 1276 1
150 Fatma Obaid UAE 1150 1
151 Kailas Shibu IND 0 1
152 Zayed Marshool UAE 0 1
153 Yap Jediael Ernest Parson PHI 0 1
154 Kinshuk Phalke IND 0 1
155 Saeed Marshool UAE 0 1
156 Vasanth Kumaran Ganesan IND 0 1
157 Shahed Abu Qamar JOR 0 1
158 Sadana, Apoorv IND 0 1
159 Iyer Adwaita S. IND 0 1
160 Essa Shahad UAE 0 1
161 Gamage Ranasinghe Yuman R SRI 1107 1
162 Subramonya Iyer, Sanjana UAE 0 1
163 Yap Jared David PHI 0 1
164 Khezrian Nooralzahra IRI 1155 1
165 Rashid Shaeri UAE 1383 0
166 Alia Sarhan Al Muaini UAE 0 0
167 Karthik Sukumar Shibu IND 0 0
168 Khezrian Neda IRI 0 0
169 Marshool Abdullah UAE 0 0
170 Gangwani, Siddhant 0 0
171 Gharib Alia Ali UAE 1724 0
172 Noman Shaima UAE 1475 0
173 Nawaf Abdulrazzaq UAE 1059 0
174 Abdulghani Mohammad UAE 0 0
175 Abdulrazaq Suheel IRI 0 0
176 Sulaiman Abu Qamar JOR 0 0
177 Talal Mohammed Al Blooshi UAE 0 0
178 Mira Husain Al Hammadi UAE 0 0
179 Ramesh, Saranya IND 0 0
180 Al-Hammadi Manal Hussein UAE 1193 0
181 Gupta, Chaitenya 0 0