Raunak Sadhwani dominates 28th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival Blitz 2022
The recently concluded 44th Chess Olympiad Bronze medalist, GM Raunak Sadhwani continues his great form. He scored an unbeaten 10/11 to win 28th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival 2022 Blitz Open. The 16-year-old finished a full point ahead of the field and he also had a full point lead heading into the last round. A draw was enough to win the tournament, and that is exactly what he did against the second runner-up, GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (ARM). Raunak defeated the eventual runner-up, GM Adam Tukhaev (UKR) in the ninth round. The total prize fund of the Blitz Open was US$ 2700. Top 3 prizes were $1000, $700 and $500 each. Last year, Raunak secured third place in the 27th edition. IM Pranesh M secured second place at Blitz Under-16 event. Photo: Rupali Mullick
Pranesh second in Blitz Under-16
IM Pranesh M scored 10/11 to finish second in the Blitz Under-16. His sole loss was against the eventual winner, FM Reza Mahdavi (IRI) 11/11. The total prize fund for the Blitz Under-16 was US$1500. Top three prizes were US$500, $400 and $300 each.
The champion's list of casualties include GM Deep Sengupta, GM Shardul Gagare, UAE no.1 GM Salem Saleh, the eventual runner-up GM Adam Tukhaev (UKR) and GM Srinath Narayanan. He performed at 2755 and gained 38.2 Elo rating points. Raunak's Blitz live rating is now 2654.2. Thus, it makes him now India no.4 in Blitz.
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A total of 174 players including 21 GMs, 16 IMs, 3 WGM and a WIM took part from 38 countries in the Blitz Open. The Under-16 Blitz had 183 players including an IM from 21 countries across the world. Both events were held simultaneously on 21st August 2022. The eleven-round Swiss League Blitz tournaments had a time control of 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment in each event. The tournaments, part of 28th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival 2022, were organized by Abu Dhabi Chess Club & Mind Games.
Final standings in Blitz Open
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
| 1 | 5 | GM | Sadhwani Raunak | IND | 2616 | 10 | 0 | 75 | 69 | |
| 2 | 14 | GM | Tukhaev Adam | UKR | 2507 | 9 | 0 | 76 | 70 | |
| 3 | 6 | GM | Ter-Sahakyan Samvel | ARM | 2592 | 9 | 0 | 73,5 | 67,5 | |
| 4 | 35 | FM | Milikow Yoav | ISR | 2288 | 9 | 0 | 70,5 | 65 | |
| 5 | 12 | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | UZB | 2517 | 8,5 | 0 | 74 | 67,5 | |
| 6 | 86 | Ashraf Artin | IRI | 1984 | 8,5 | 0 | 73,5 | 67,5 | ||
| 7 | 30 | FM | Manafov Vugar | AZE | 2319 | 8,5 | 0 | 72 | 66 | |
| 8 | 15 | GM | Gagare Shardul | IND | 2489 | 8 | 0 | 76,5 | 71 | |
| 9 | 8 | GM | Hakobyan Aram | ARM | 2557 | 8 | 0 | 76 | 70 | |
| 10 | 19 | GM | Vishnu Prasanna. V | IND | 2465 | 8 | 0 | 71 | 66 | |
| 11 | 2 | GM | Sindarov Javokhir | UZB | 2670 | 8 | 0 | 71 | 65 | |
| 12 | 25 | GM | Arjun Kalyan | IND | 2340 | 8 | 0 | 70 | 65 | |
| 13 | 18 | GM | Narayanan Srinath | IND | 2472 | 8 | 0 | 68,5 | 63 | |
| 14 | 44 | FM | Aradhya Garg | IND | 2203 | 8 | 0 | 66,5 | 61,5 | |
| 15 | 13 | GM | Iniyan P | IND | 2508 | 7,5 | 0 | 73 | 67,5 |
Final standings in Blitz Under-16
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
| 1 | 1 | FM | Mahdavi Reza | U14 | IRI | 2226 | 11 | 0 | 78,5 | 72,5 | |
| 2 | 4 | IM | Pranesh M | U16 | IND | 1926 | 10 | 0 | 79,5 | 73,5 | |
| 3 | 2 | FM | Talibov Shiroghlan | U16 | AZE | 2042 | 9 | 0 | 78 | 72 | |
| 4 | 7 | Aditya Varun Gampa | U16 | IND | 1808 | 8,5 | 0 | 77,5 | 71 | ||
| 5 | 8 | AGM | Vishal Choudary B | U16 | IND | 1792 | 8,5 | 0 | 75,5 | 69,5 | |
| 6 | 11 | FM | De Silva L M S T | U16 | SRI | 1663 | 8,5 | 0 | 74,5 | 70 | |
| 7 | 6 | CM | Sindarov Islombek | U16 | UZB | 1863 | 8 | 0 | 81 | 74 | |
| 8 | 15 | Rami Talab | U10 | SYR | 1585 | 8 | 0 | 76 | 70,5 | ||
| 9 | 9 | Manmay Chopra | U16 | IND | 1770 | 8 | 0 | 74,5 | 68,5 | ||
| 10 | 13 | AGM | Rakshan Magotra | U14 | IND | 1638 | 8 | 0 | 72,5 | 67,5 | |
| 11 | 22 | Alizada Pasham | AZE | 1464 | 8 | 0 | 71,5 | 66,5 | |||
| 12 | 3 | Rohit S | U16 | IND | 1973 | 8 | 0 | 71 | 66 | ||
| 13 | 89 | Dumankyzy Alfarabi | U16 | KAZ | 1104 | 8 | 0 | 70,5 | 65,5 | ||
| 14 | 12 | Arnab Jena | U14 | IND | 1655 | 8 | 0 | 70,5 | 64,5 | ||
| 15 | 27 | Zenterekov Daniil | U14 | RUS | 1446 | 8 | 0 | 69,5 | 64,5 |
