Aravindh Chithambaram clinches 22nd Dubai Open 2022, Praggnanandhaa third
Aravindh Chithambaram drew with Praggnanandhaa in the final round to become the clear champion of 22nd Dubai Open 2022. He scored an unbeaten 7.5/9 and finished a half point ahead of the field. This is sixth overall, fifth individual triumph of the year out of the eight tournaments he played. The last tournament he played was over 1.5 months ago which he won at 41st Benasque Open 2022. He performed at 2705 and gained 11.4 Elo rating points. Five players scored 7/9. They are - GM Alexandr Predke, GM Praggnanandhaa, GM Abhijeet Gupta, IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete and GM Sethuraman S P. They secured second to sixth place according to tie-breaks. Sammed is the only IM among top seven finishers. Total prize fund was US$ 50000. Top three prizes were $13000 and a trophy, $8000 and $5000 each respectively. Photo: Rupali Mullick
Aravindh's sixth triumph of the year, Indians claim seven out of top 10
GM Aravindh Chithambaram has played five Classical tournaments this year. He won three of them. He also won both Rapid events and the sole Blitz event he took part in. The 22-year-old is the reigning National Rapid and Blitz champion. His tournament winning percentage overall in this year is 75%, in Rapid and Blitz format it is 100%. Aravindh is back would be a massive understatement, it is quite possibly his best year so far since he became India's first National Triple Crown champion in 2019.
Abhijeet - Sandipan: 1-0
GM Abhijeet Gupta ended GM Sandipan Chanda's winning streak in the final round to finish fourth and remain undefeated.
11...a5 would have been fine for Black. 11...c5 however turned out to be an incorrect tactic for Black 12.dxc5 Bxb2+ 13.Kxb2 Rxf4 14.Rxd6 Qa5 15.Bc4 Nc6 16.Rhd1 and White is substantially better. Black got an opportunity to equalize which he did and a tiny window of opportunity to turn the tables. It was not easy to spot for a human and eventually Abhijeet went on to win the game.
Aram - Sammed
Yes, Black is completely winning here. However, it is neither a quick nor an easy win by any means. IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete had to be precise as he ended up with a bishop and knight to checkmate. He won the game in another 75 moves, got his opponent king in a mating net in 25 moves with his bishop and knight.
106th seeded FM Ayush Sharma scored 6/9 to finish 22nd. He also earned his maiden GM-norm and his second IM-norm. He increased his Elo rating by 81.6 points.
65th seeded Sambit Panda finished the tournament on a high note by defeating GM Thej Kumar. This was his second consecutive win against GM. In the previous round, he defeated Argentina no.1 GM Sandro Mareco. He also drew with the Egypt no.2 GM Adly Ahmed in Round 2.
For more Round 9 and Prize distribution ceremony photos, please click at the respective links.
A total of 163 players including 29 GMs, 29 IMs, 2 WGMs and 3 WIMs took part from 34 countries across the world including India. The tournament was organized by Dubai Chess & Culture Club from 27th August to 4th September 2022 at Dubai Chess & Culture Club, UAE. The nine-round Swiss league tournament had a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.
Replay Round 9 games
Round 9 results
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | K | rtg+/- | ||
| 1 | 13 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2614 | 7,5 | 0 | 44,5 | 37,5 | 10 | 11,4 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | Predke Alexandr | FID | 2692 | 7 | 0 | 49,5 | 42,5 | 10 | 4,3 | |
| 3 | 4 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | IND | 2661 | 7 | 0 | 49 | 41,5 | 10 | 11,1 | |
| 4 | 7 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet | IND | 2631 | 7 | 0 | 46,5 | 40 | 10 | 4,4 | |
| 5 | 57 | IM | Sammed Jaykumar Shete | IND | 2381 | 7 | 0 | 44,5 | 38 | 10 | 22,6 | |
| 6 | 8 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | IND | 2625 | 7 | 0 | 42,5 | 36,5 | 10 | 6,6 | |
| 7 | 2 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | IND | 2689 | 6,5 | 0 | 50,5 | 43 | 10 | 2,5 | |
| 8 | 50 | FM | Poormosavi Seyed Kian | IRI | 2404 | 6,5 | 0 | 48,5 | 41 | 10 | 32,1 | |
| 9 | 14 | GM | Indjic Aleksandar | SRB | 2613 | 6,5 | 0 | 48 | 41 | 10 | 2 | |
| 10 | 18 | GM | Harsha Bharathakoti | IND | 2557 | 6,5 | 0 | 45,5 | 39 | 10 | 9,8 | |
| 11 | 43 | GM | Rahman Ziaur | BAN | 2427 | 6,5 | 0 | 43,5 | 37 | 10 | 19,3 | |
| 12 | 17 | GM | Adly Ahmed | EGY | 2582 | 6,5 | 0 | 43 | 36 | 10 | -0,7 | |
| 13 | 9 | GM | Ter-Sahakyan Samvel | ARM | 2625 | 6,5 | 0 | 42 | 35,5 | 10 | -4,7 | |
| 14 | 24 | GM | Arjun Kalyan | IND | 2513 | 6,5 | 0 | 40,5 | 33,5 | 10 | -2,5 | |
| 15 | 15 | GM | Hakobyan Aram | ARM | 2612 | 6 | 0 | 49,5 | 42,5 | 10 | -4,1 | |
| 16 | 12 | GM | Jumabayev Rinat | KAZ | 2615 | 6 | 0 | 49 | 41,5 | 10 | 0,3 | |
| 17 | 10 | GM | Sadhwani Raunak | IND | 2622 | 6 | 0 | 47 | 40 | 10 | -8,6 | |
| 18 | 3 | GM | Tabatabaei M. Amin | IRI | 2664 | 6 | 0 | 46 | 39,5 | 10 | -8,8 | |
| 19 | 38 | IM | Nigmatov Ortik | UZB | 2437 | 6 | 0 | 45,5 | 38,5 | 10 | 10,5 | |
| 20 | 25 | GM | Grover Sahaj | IND | 2505 | 6 | 0 | 45 | 38 | 10 | 4,7 |
