Matlakov wins Dubai Open Chess

Grand Master Maxim Matlakov of Russia won the 8-way tie to take the Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup and the top prize of $13,000 in the 21st Dubai Open Chess Championship at the Dubai Chess Club in Dubai.

Matlakov, 28, drew a 56 move 5-hour game in the final round against the Benoni Defense of Aleksandar Indjic of Serbia. The Russian won the European Individual Championship in 2017 and was a member of the Russian team which won silver in the World Team Championship.

Matlakov, second seed with a high rating of 2692, won by the Buccholz Cut 1 tie break system which measures the strength of all player’s opponents except the weakest.

Tied with Matlakov at 7 points each in the 9-round Swiss were 15-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan who won second prize of $7,000 , top seed Le Quang Liem of Vietnam in third for $5,000, Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine, Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli of Venezuela, Sanal Vahap of Turkey, Indjic and the surprise winner P. Iniyan of India, the only International Master among the prize winners.

Iniyan used the King’s Indian Defense to win in 37 moves against a savage attack by his compatriot, S.P. Sethuraman. In the other decisive games, Le Quang Liem used the Sicilian Defense against Grand Master Alan Pichot of Argentina to win an endgame of Rook and opposite colored Bishops in 65 moves. Sanal Vahap beat Amin Tabatabaei of Iran as the Turk was about to promote a pawn in 48 moves of a Guioco Piano game. The other games of leaders were draws between Abdusattorov and Grand Master Mikheil Mchedlishvili of Georgia, and between Kuzubov and Iturrizaga.

The top 15 received cash prizes. Also in the money were 6.5 pointers Grand Masters Mchedlishvili, Ahmed Adly of Egypt, Emre Can of Turkey and Indians Deepan Chakkravarthy, Aravindh Chithambaram, Debashhis Das and IM NR Vignesh.

Winnning Best Women were WGrand Master Tokhirjonova Gulrukhbegim of Uzbekistan with six points followed by FM Assaubayeva Bibisara of Kazakhstan with 5.5 points.

Best Arab Player was Bellahcene Bilel of Algeria with 5.5 points. IM Ibrahim Sultan emerged Best UAE Player with 4.5 points. Winning Best Dubai Players were FM Ahmed Fareed with four points followed by Ali Abdulaziz with 3.5 points.

Runner-up Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan (right) vs. Grand Master Mikheil Mchedlishvili of Georgia.

Third placer Grand Master Le Quang Liem of Vietnam (left) beat Grand Master Alan Pichot of Argentina.