Abu Dhabi 2019 Round 8: Jobava wins again, Karthikeyan slips in the penultimate round
In the penultimate round of the 26th Abu Dhabi Chess Masters 2019 Karthikeyan Murali ended up losing to GM Yakubboev Nodirbek. It was a highly complex game in King's Indian defense where the Indian Grandmaster made a series of inexplicable errors handing over his winning advantage to the Uzbek player. Karthikeyan has thus slipped to the 11th place on the rank-list with 5.5/8. On the other hand, the in-form leader Baadur Jobava resumed his stellar run as he registered yet another victory against the polish Grandmaster Mateusz Bartel. In this report we bring you analysis, photos, and more.
Jobava back to winning!
It is interesting to note that around the year of 2012 Baadur Jobava's rating peaked to a massive 2734, only a stint of bad performances recently has brought him down into the 2500s on the Elo scale. However, in this ongoing Abu Dhabi Masters he has proven with his phenomenal domination that that's not his true strength. The Georgian Grandmaster won all his games in the first six rounds and now, after just one draw in the seventh round, is back with the victory rampage! The latest casualty being Bartel Mateusz from Poland. In this game Jobava opened with 1.b3 - the Nimzo-Larsen - and then opted for an unusual double fianchetto set-up. Let's begin by looking at the highlights of this game!
Baadur Jobava - Bartel Mateusz, Round 8
Karthikeyan misses footing in King's Indian complexities
Results of round 8
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 26 | GM | Jobava Baadur | 2584 | 6½ | 1 - 0 | 5½ | GM | Bartel Mateusz | 2612 | 13 | ||
2 | 10 | GM | Socko Bartosz | 2625 | 5½ | ½ - ½ | 5½ | GM | Ni Hua | 2668 | 2 | ||
3 | 28 | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | 2574 | 5½ | 1 - 0 | 5½ | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 2612 | 14 | ||
4 | 18 | GM | Antipov Mikhail Al. | 2599 | 5½ | 0 - 1 | 5 | GM | Indjic Aleksandar | 2617 | 11 | ||
5 | 4 | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | 2656 | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5 | GM | Aleksandrov Aleksej | 2571 | 29 | ||
6 | 8 | GM | Ter-Sahakyan Samvel | 2632 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | 2594 | 21 | ||
7 | 22 | GM | Can Emre | 2593 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Esipenko Andrey | 2625 | 9 | ||
8 | 37 | GM | Sengupta Deep | 2546 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | 2607 | 15 | ||
9 | 16 | GM | Zubov Alexander | 2607 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Petrosyan Manuel | 2592 | 23 | ||
10 | 30 | GM | Yuffa Daniil | 2571 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Tabatabaei M.Amin | 2601 | 17 | ||
11 | 1 | GM | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | 2686 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Paichadze Luka | 2570 | 31 | ||
12 | 35 | GM | Shevchenko Kirill | 2556 | 4½ | 0 - 1 | 4½ | GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | 2668 | 3 | ||
13 | 38 | GM | Sanal Vahap | 2535 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4½ | GM | Onischuk Vladimir | 2640 | 6 | ||
14 | 7 | GM | Volokitin Andrei | 2636 | 4½ | 0 - 1 | 4½ | GM | Aryan Chopra | 2553 | 36 | ||
15 | 19 | GM | Bai Jinshi | 2599 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Xu Yi | 2531 | 39 | ||
16 | 20 | GM | Petrov Nikita | 2595 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Sindarov Javokhir | 2507 | 45 | ||
17 | 24 | GM | Vaibhav Suri | 2591 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | IM | Shyaamnikhil P | 2457 | 53 | ||
18 | 40 | IM | Nguyen Anh Khoi | 2529 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Santos Latasa Jaime | 2586 | 25 | ||
19 | 44 | GM | Kuybokarov Temur | 2511 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Idani Pouya | 2581 | 27 | ||
20 | 5 | GM | Akopian Vladimir | 2650 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4½ | CM | Aronyak Ghosh | 2332 | 87 |
Standings after round 8
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
1 | 26 | GM | Jobava Baadur | GEO | 2584 | 7,5 | 0,0 | 2593 | 41,5 | |
2 | 28 | GM | Yakubboev Nodirbek | UZB | 2574 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 2592 | 39,0 | |
3 | 4 | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | IRI | 2656 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 2575 | 43,0 | |
4 | 10 | GM | Socko Bartosz | POL | 2625 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 2566 | 39,5 | |
5 | 11 | GM | Indjic Aleksandar | SRB | 2617 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 2556 | 43,0 | |
6 | 2 | GM | Ni Hua | CHN | 2668 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 2525 | 41,0 | |
7 | 30 | GM | Yuffa Daniil | RUS | 2571 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 2557 | 39,5 | |
8 | 3 | GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | UAE | 2668 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 2556 | 43,0 | |
9 | 23 | GM | Petrosyan Manuel | ARM | 2592 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 2551 | 41,5 | |
10 | 16 | GM | Zubov Alexander | UKR | 2607 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 2551 | 37,0 | |
11 | 14 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | IND | 2612 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 2549 | 38,0 | |
12 | 36 | GM | Aryan Chopra | IND | 2553 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 2547 | 36,5 | |
13 | 13 | GM | Bartel Mateusz | POL | 2612 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 2539 | 42,5 | |
14 | 17 | GM | Tabatabaei M.Amin | IRI | 2601 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 2530 | 38,0 | |
15 | 37 | GM | Sengupta Deep | IND | 2546 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 2526 | 37,5 | |
16 | 22 | GM | Can Emre | TUR | 2593 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 2526 | 36,5 | |
17 | 18 | GM | Antipov Mikhail Al. | RUS | 2599 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 2522 | 37,5 | |
18 | 21 | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | UZB | 2594 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 2519 | 39,0 | |
19 | 9 | GM | Esipenko Andrey | RUS | 2625 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 2518 | 39,0 | |
20 | 15 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2607 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 2501 | 38,5 |
The final round of the event begins today (10th August) at 11:30 a.m IST. You can follow it live on the official YouTube channel of Abu Dhabi Chess.