Abu Dhabi 2019 Round 6: Indians cause triple upsets in the sixth round of Abu Dhabi Festival
The Indian contingent came out with flying colours in the sixth round of 26th Abu Dhabi Festival 2019 as the fifth, sixth, and seventh seeds of the event were all outclassed by Indians! Karthikeyan Murali beat the strong Ukrainian Grandmaster and the seventh seed of the event Andrei Volokitin in a solid positional style. Aryan Chopra crushed the sixth seeded Vladimir Onischuk's Modern defense in a mere thirty-eight moves. And IM Krishna C.R.G shocked the fifth seed Vladimir Akopian by overpowering his Benoni. Elsewhere, Jobava Baadur continued his brilliant streak as he registered his sixth consecutive victory against Parham Maghsoodloo taking a full point lead with 6.0/6 over the entire field. Four players - Nodirbek Yakubboev, Socko Bartosz, Karthikeyan Murali, and Ni Hua - follow him with 5.0/6 points.
Karthikeyan's placid positional masterclass!
In round six of the Abu Dhabi Masters 2019, Karthikeyan had the White pieces against the strong Ukrainian GM Andrei Volokitin. The game started off with a Sicilian Najdorf but the Indian adopted a solid positional approach instead of a sharp double-edged one that is popularly characteristic of the opening. Let's begin by looking at the highlights of this game.
Karthikeyan Murali - Andrei Volokitin, Round 6
Aryan Chopra goes Modern hunting!
Aryan simply crushed Vladimir Onischuk's Modern defense by seizing copious space early on in the game out of the opening. What came next was just clinical rampage!
Aryan Chopra - Vladimir Onischuk, Round 6
International Master Krishna C.R.G pulls off an upset!
Akopian began with a slightly worse structure of the Benoni. The Indian IM played some flawless chess to capitalize on his advantage and snub every counter chances his Armenian could have!
Krishna C.R.G - Vladimir Akopian, Round 6
The final blow in the above position came as 31.e5!, after 31...dxe5 32.d6 Qe6 33.Ne4 Nc5 was strongly threatened and White broke through.
Jobava's stunning dominance!
Praggnananddhaa secures third place in the Blitz event!
The Blitz event of the festival was held on the 6th of August. The event was won by Parham Maghsoodloo and India's wunderkid secured an impressive third place.
His win against Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei in the penultimate round was particularly notable. You can check out the video of this encounter sent to us by Rupali Mullick:
Results of round 6
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 26 | GM | Jobava Baadur | 2584 | 5 | 1 - 0 | 4½ | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | 2656 | 4 | ||
2 | 2 | GM | Ni Hua | 2668 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | Tabatabaei M.Amin | 2601 | 17 | ||
3 | 14 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 2612 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | Volokitin Andrei | 2636 | 7 | ||
4 | 10 | GM | Socko Bartosz | 2625 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | Petrosyan Manuel | 2592 | 23 | ||
5 | 28 | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | 2574 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | Indjic Aleksandar | 2617 | 11 | ||
6 | 12 | GM | Yilmaz Mustafa | 2614 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 4 | GM | Aleksandrov Aleksej | 2571 | 29 | ||
7 | 30 | GM | Yuffa Daniil | 2571 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | 2668 | 3 | ||
8 | 36 | GM | Aryan Chopra | 2553 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Onischuk Vladimir | 2640 | 6 | ||
9 | 38 | GM | Sanal Vahap | 2535 | 3½ | 0 - 1 | 3½ | GM | Esipenko Andrey | 2625 | 9 | ||
10 | 44 | GM | Kuybokarov Temur | 2511 | 3½ | 0 - 1 | 3½ | GM | Bartel Mateusz | 2612 | 13 | ||
11 | 74 | FM | Assaubayeva Bibisara | 2375 | 3½ | 0 - 1 | 3½ | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | 2607 | 15 | ||
12 | 16 | GM | Zubov Alexander | 2607 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Idani Pouya | 2581 | 27 | ||
13 | 18 | GM | Antipov Mikhail Al. | 2599 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2569 | 32 | ||
14 | 20 | GM | Petrov Nikita | 2595 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Istratescu Andrei | 2561 | 34 | ||
15 | 78 | FM | Rathanvel V S | 2367 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | 2594 | 21 | ||
16 | 22 | GM | Can Emre | 2593 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Sindarov Javokhir | 2507 | 45 | ||
17 | 24 | GM | Vaibhav Suri | 2591 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Xu Yi | 2531 | 39 | ||
18 | 55 | IM | Muradli Mahammad | 2454 | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | GM | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | 2686 | 1 | ||
19 | 57 | IM | Krishna C R G | 2444 | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | GM | Akopian Vladimir | 2650 | 5 | ||
20 | 8 | GM | Ter-Sahakyan Samvel | 2632 | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | IM | Aditya Mittal | 2429 | 61 |
Standings after round 6
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
1 | 26 | GM | Jobava Baadur | GEO | 2584 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 2575 | 20,5 | |
2 | 28 | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | UZB | 2574 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 2581 | 19,0 | |
3 | 10 | GM | Socko Bartosz | POL | 2625 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 2537 | 20,0 | |
4 | 14 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | IND | 2612 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 2529 | 20,5 | |
5 | 2 | GM | Ni Hua | CHN | 2668 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 2493 | 19,5 | |
6 | 4 | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | IRI | 2656 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 2572 | 23,5 | |
7 | 29 | GM | Aleksandrov Aleksej | BLR | 2571 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 2569 | 23,0 | |
8 | 16 | GM | Zubov Alexander | UKR | 2607 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 2538 | 20,0 | |
9 | 30 | GM | Yuffa Daniil | RUS | 2571 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 2538 | 19,5 | |
10 | 13 | GM | Bartel Mateusz | POL | 2612 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 2519 | 23,0 | |
11 | 36 | GM | Aryan Chopra | IND | 2553 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 2518 | 20,5 | |
12 | 18 | GM | Antipov Mikhail Al. | RUS | 2599 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 2497 | 18,5 | |
13 | 9 | GM | Esipenko Andrey | RUS | 2625 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 2492 | 19,5 | |
14 | 22 | GM | Can Emre | TUR | 2593 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 2480 | 20,0 | |
15 | 15 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2607 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 2478 | 21,0 | |
16 | 24 | GM | Vaibhav Suri | IND | 2591 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 2441 | 19,0 | |
17 | 23 | GM | Petrosyan Manuel | ARM | 2592 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 2576 | 24,0 | |
18 | 11 | GM | Indjic Aleksandar | SRB | 2617 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 2556 | 25,0 | |
19 | 12 | GM | Yilmaz Mustafa | TUR | 2614 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 2552 | 23,0 | |
20 | 57 | IM | Krishna C R G | IND | 2444 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 2548 | 21,5 |
The seventh round of the event begins at 6:30 p.m. You can follow it live on the official YouTube Channel of Abu Dhabi Chess.