Abu Dhabi 2019 Final Round: Triumph of the Georgian genius

by Satanick Mukhuty - 11/08/2019

The 26th Abu Dhabi Masters 2019 came to conclusion on the 10th of August. The Georgian Grandmaster Baadur Jobava dominated the field scoring an unbeaten 8.0/9 points with a phenomenal performance rating of 2908. Among Indians, the best finisher was Aryan Chopra who secured 11th place with a score of 6.0/9. Karthikeyan Murali, Deep Sengupta, Aravindh Chithambaram, and Vaibhav Suri also scored 6.0/9 and came within the top 20. Apart from this, seven players, namely FM Rathanvel V S, CM Raahil Mullick, WIM Nandhidhaa P V, CM Aronyak Ghosh, FM Nitish Belurkar, Senthil Maran K, and WIM Mahalakshmi M successfully made their norms from the event. In this final report we bring you the games and photos from the last round and also an overview of performances of all the Indian participants.

Baadur Jobava - the sole victor of the event!

Not many years ago Baadur Jobava from Georgia was sending ripples across the world of chess by defeating likes of Veselin Topalov, Ruslan Ponomariov, and even World no.1 Magnus Carlsen. In 2012 he reached a peak rating of 2734 but on the 2nd of August when he came to play the 26th Abu Dhabi Masters his rating was just 2584. Everyone knew that this number didn't reflect the true playing strength of this world class player but was only an evidence of a temporary drop in form. What no one knew was how or when this 35-year-old chess genius would make a comeback!

Jobava suffered an abysmal drop in form in recent years that brought his Elo rating from 2700s down into the 2500s but with this stunning comeback the former Georgian no.1 has proven his mettle beyond doubt | Photo: 26th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival (Twitter)

Baadur Jobava scored a whopping 8.0/9 points to dominate the entire field and finish a full point ahead of Nodirbek Yakubboev who came sole second with 7.0/9. Thus achieving a stratospheric performance rating of 2908, the three times champion of Georgia returned back home gaining 32.6 Elo points and 13000 US Dollar! His last game against the Uzbek GM Nodirbek Yakubboev was a solid 28 moves draw with the black pieces.

An overview of Jobava's stellar run in the event!

One hopes that this great player keeps up his form and regains his rightful place in the World of Chess | Photo: 26th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival (Twitter)

Aryan Chopra - the best among Indians!

Aryan Chopra defeated Andrei Volokitin in the penultimate round and drew Alexander Zubov in the final round to secure 11th place in the event with a score of 6.0/9 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

An overview of Aryan's performance in the event

The top-seeded Indian player Karthikeyan Murali was paired up against compatriot Deep Sengupta in the final round of the event. The game was agreed to a draw in just 18 moves which led to both the players finishing with 6.0/9 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

India's triple-crown champion Aravindh Chithambaram remained unbeaten in the entire event and finished with a score 6.0/9. In the last round he drew against Emre Can | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Vaibhav Suri finished 20th also with a score of 6.0/9. In the last round he defeated IM Mahammad Muradli with the black pieces| Photo: Rupali Mullick

Praggnananddhaa R. drew the event's top-seed Yuriy Kryvoruchko in the last round, finishing with 5.5/9 points | Photo: Rupali Mullick

IM Shyamnikhil P also put up a commendable performance scoring 5.5/9. In the last round he drew GM Nikita Petrov | Photo: Rupali Mullick

The Norm makers of the event

FM Rathanvel V S played some solid bit of chess, made his fourth IM norm and also fulfilled the rating requirements to become the latest International Master of India. In the last round he drew against GM Aleksej Aleksandrov | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Here is an overview of Rathanvel's performance. He already had three IM norms prior to this event. But here with his performance he gained 42.8 Elo points, thus crossing the 2400 Elo criteria to become the latest IM of the country.

Mahalakshmi M beat IM Krishna C.R.G in the final round to finish with a commendable 5.5/9. She became the best female performer of the event and also clinched an IM norm through her performance | Photo: Rupali Mullick

An overview of Mahalakshmi's performance

Nandhidhaa P V made her final WGM norm to become the newest Women Grandmaster of the country. She finished with a score of 4.5/9 and gained 16.4 Elo points | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Raahil Mullick started off the event by defeating the strong Armenian Grandmaster Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, in the last round he caused another upset by beating Mustafa Yilmaz! In the process he made his second IM norm | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Below is the game Raahil played in the last round against the strong Turkish Grandmaster. Interestingly, his choice of opening was the same as in the first round!

FM Nitish Belurkar lost to GM Iniyan P in the last round but overall played some very standard chess thus making an IM norm in the process | Photo: Rupali Mullick

CM Aronyak Ghosh made an IM norm in the event | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Senthil Maran K drew Divya Deshmukh in the last round. He also made an IM norm through his excellent results against strong GMs like Kirill Shevchenko and Temur Kuybokarov | Photo: Rupali Mullick

India dominates in the Juniors Event

The performances of Indians in the juniors section of the event was particularly notable as the top five places were all secured by Indians. Pranesh M became the sole juniors champion with a score of 8.0/9 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

13-year-old IM Leon Mendonca was the top-seed in the juniors event and secured an overall fifth place after the completion of nine rounds | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Final standings in the junior event

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	3	FM	Pranesh M	U14		IND	2296	8,0	0,0	53,0	45,50
2	5	CM	Kushagra Mohan	U16		IND	2252	7,5	0,0	56,5	45,50
3	6	FM	Srihari L R	U14		IND	2227	7,5	0,0	56,5	45,25
4	4	FM	Aaryan Varshney	U14		IND	2272	7,5	0,0	56,0	45,25
5	1	IM	Mendonca Leon Luke	U14		IND	2401	7,0	0,0	57,0	42,00
6	25		Assylov Miras	U12		KAZ	1535	7,0	0,0	45,5	35,00
7	26		Gu Xianghan	U14		CHN	1523	7,0	0,0	44,5	33,75
8	9		Hamad Essam	U16		UAE	1906	6,5	0,0	57,5	38,25
9	2		Pranav V	U14		IND	2316	6,5	0,0	55,5	37,75
10	10	CM	Sindarov Islombek	U12		UZB	1830	6,5	0,0	54,0	35,00
11	20		Mukumov Arjin	U14		UZB	1617	6,5	0,0	51,5	34,50
12	24		Satybaldy Adil	U10		KAZ	1542	6,5	0,0	49,5	31,75
13	21		Singh Gurmeher	U14		IND	1605	6,5	0,0	49,0	32,75
14	19		Aditya Ramanathan	U12		IND	1619	6,5	0,0	47,5	33,25
15	27		Raji Sayel Abu Azizah	U14		PLE	1499	6,5	0,0	47,5	32,50
16	22		Hamad Bader	U16		UAE	1581	6,5	0,0	43,5	29,50
17	18		Krishnan Ritvik	U12		IND	1653	6,0	0,0	53,0	33,00
18	16		Sabirov Rasul	U16		KAZ	1669	6,0	0,0	52,0	31,00
19	12		Al Darmaky Sultan	U16		UAE	1776	6,0	0,0	52,0	30,00
20	11		Satybaldy Amir	U16		KAZ	1781	6,0	0,0	51,0	32,00

Results of the final round (Masters)

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	28	GM	Yakubboev Nodirbek	2574	6½	½ - ½	7½	GM	Jobava Baadur	2584	26
2	2	GM	Ni Hua	2668	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	2656	4
3	11	GM	Indjic Aleksandar	2617	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Socko Bartosz	2625	10
4	3	GM	Salem A.R. Saleh	2668	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Antipov Mikhail Al.	2599	18
5	23	GM	Petrosyan Manuel	2592	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	2632	8
6	9	GM	Esipenko Andrey	2625	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	2594	21
7	13	GM	Bartel Mateusz	2612	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Yuffa Daniil	2571	30
8	14	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2612	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Sengupta Deep	2546	37
9	15	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2607	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Can Emre	2593	22
10	36	GM	Aryan Chopra	2553	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Zubov Alexander	2607	16
11	17	GM	Tabatabaei M.Amin	2601	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Sanal Vahap	2535	38
12	32	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2569	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Kryvoruchko Yuriy	2686	1
13	31	GM	Paichadze Luka	2570	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Akopian Vladimir	2650	5
14	45	GM	Sindarov Javokhir	2507	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Bai Jinshi	2599	19
15	53	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2457	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Petrov Nikita	2595	20
16	55	IM	Muradli Mahammad	2454	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Vaibhav Suri	2591	24
17	25	GM	Santos Latasa Jaime	2586	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Kuybokarov Temur	2511	44
18	27	GM	Idani Pouya	2581	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Nguyen Anh Khoi	2529	40
19	29	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	2571	5	½ - ½	5	FM	Rathanvel V S	2367	78
20	39	GM	Xu Yi	2531	5	½ - ½	4½	GM	Volokitin Andrei	2636	7

Standings after the final round (Masters)

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	26	GM	Jobava Baadur	GEO	2584	8,0	0,0	2591	54,5
2	28	GM	Yakubboev Nodirbek	UZB	2574	7,0	0,0	2591	52,0
3	4	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	IRI	2656	6,5	0,0	2586	54,5
4	10	GM	Socko Bartosz	POL	2625	6,5	0,0	2573	51,0
5	11	GM	Indjic Aleksandar	SRB	2617	6,5	0,0	2565	52,0
6	3	GM	Salem A.R. Saleh	UAE	2668	6,5	0,0	2562	52,5
7	23	GM	Petrosyan Manuel	ARM	2592	6,5	0,0	2561	51,0
8	13	GM	Bartel Mateusz	POL	2612	6,5	0,0	2543	52,5
9	2	GM	Ni Hua	CHN	2668	6,5	0,0	2541	52,5
10	17	GM	Tabatabaei M.Amin	IRI	2601	6,5	0,0	2531	46,0
11	36	GM	Aryan Chopra	IND	2553	6,0	0,0	2554	45,5
12	16	GM	Zubov Alexander	UKR	2607	6,0	0,0	2551	47,0
13	14	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	IND	2612	6,0	0,0	2549	48,5
14	37	GM	Sengupta Deep	IND	2546	6,0	0,0	2537	47,5
15	22	GM	Can Emre	TUR	2593	6,0	0,0	2536	47,5
16	21	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	UZB	2594	6,0	0,0	2532	47,5
17	9	GM	Esipenko Andrey	RUS	2625	6,0	0,0	2527	48,0
18	25	GM	Santos Latasa Jaime	ESP	2586	6,0	0,0	2526	45,5
19	15	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2607	6,0	0,0	2513	48,0
20	24	GM	Vaibhav Suri	IND	2591	6,0	0,0	2466	46,5

An overview of all Indian performances in the Masters event

SNo		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Pts.	Rk.	Group
14	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2612	IND	1	½	½	1	1	1	½	0	½	6,0	13	Masters
15	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2607	IND	1	½	1	½	½	1	½	½	½	6,0	19	Masters
24	GM	Vaibhav Suri	2591	IND	½	1	½	1	½	1	0	½	1	6,0	20	Masters
32	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2569	IND	½	1	½	1	½	0	½	1	½	5,5	31	Masters
36	GM	Aryan Chopra	2553	IND	½	1	½	1	½	1	0	1	½	6,0	11	Masters
37	GM	Sengupta Deep	2546	IND	1	1	½	½	0	1	1	½	½	6,0	14	Masters
41	GM	Iniyan P	2517	IND	1	½	½	½	0	½	1	½	1	5,5	43	Masters
47	IM	Sadhwani Raunak	2493	IND	1	½	0	1	0	½	1	½	1	5,5	42	Masters
48	IM	Arjun Kalyan	2482	IND	½	1	½	½	½	0	1	½	0	4,5	82	Masters
50	GM	Venkatesh M.R.	2480	IND	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	½	4,5	80	Masters
52	IM	Vignesh N R	2466	IND	1	½	0	1	½	1	0	½	1	5,5	30	Masters
53	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	2457	IND	½	½	½	1	½	1	½	½	½	5,5	41	Masters
57	IM	Krishna C R G	2444	IND	1	½	½	0	1	1	0	½	0	4,5	65	Masters
58	IM	Akash Pc Iyer	2443	IND	1	½	0	1	0	1	½	½	0	4,5	67	Masters
61	IM	Aditya Mittal	2429	IND	1	0	½	1	½	0	½	1	½	5,0	52	Masters
62	GM	Laxman R.R.	2426	IND	½	1	½	0	1	0	1	½	½	5,0	56	Masters
65		Sammed Jaykumar Shete	2416	IND	1	0	0	1	1	0	½	½	1	5,0	62	Masters
66		Sankalp Gupta	2416	IND	0	1	½	½	0	½	0	0	1	3,5	127	Masters
67	WGM	Vaishali R	2411	IND	1	½	0	½	1	½	0	1	0	4,5	71	Masters
70	IM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2401	IND	0	1	0	½	½	1	½	1	1	5,5	46	Masters
72	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2377	IND	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	½	3,5	111	Masters
73	IM	Rakesh Kumar Jena	2375	IND	½	½	1	0	1	0	0	½	0	3,5	121	Masters
75	FM	Manush Shah	2373	IND	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	0	½	3,5	124	Masters
76	IM	Viani Antonio Dcunha	2371	IND	1	½	½	0	1	½	0	½	0	4,0	89	Masters
77	FM	Rajdeep Sarkar	2367	IND	½	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2,5	138	Masters
78	FM	Rathanvel V S	2367	IND	0	1	1	½	1	½	0	1	½	5,5	25	Masters
79	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2364	IND	0	0	½	1	1	0	½	1	1	5,0	61	Masters
80	IM	Kulkarni Rakesh	2360	IND	0	½	1	0	½	1	0	0	1	4,0	101	Masters
81	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	2360	IND	1	0	1	0	0	½	1	½	½	4,5	72	Masters
82	FM	Dixit Nikhil	2358	IND	½	0	1	0	½	0	1	1	0	4,0	95	Masters
83	CM	Mullick Raahil	2355	IND	1	0	½	½	½	0	1	½	1	5,0	47	Masters
84	FM	Pranav Anand	2347	IND	0	0	1	½	1	0	½	1	½	4,5	85	Masters
85		Moksh Amit Doshi	2343	IND	0	½	1	0	0	0	1	1	1	4,5	87	Masters
86	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V	2332	IND	0	1	0	1	½	0	1	1	0	4,5	69	Masters
87	CM	Aronyak Ghosh	2332	IND	0	1	½	1	½	1	½	0	½	5,0	48	Masters
88	IM	Kathmale Sameer	2326	IND	0	1	½	0	1	½	0	1	0	4,0	92	Masters
89	FM	Krishnater Kushager	2324	IND	0	0	1	½	1	½	½	0	½	4,0	98	Masters
91		Pranav V	2316	IND	0	1	1	½	0	0	1	0	0	3,5	108	Masters
92	FM	Mithil Ajgaonkar	2314	IND	0	1	0	0	0	½	1	1	0	3,5	126	Masters
93		Srijit Paul	2304	IND	½	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	1	4,5	81	Masters
94	FM	Gajwa Ankit	2302	IND	0	0	½	1	½	½	½	½	1	4,5	88	Masters
95	FM	Pranesh M	2296	IND	½	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	4,5	77	Masters
96		Samant Aditya S	2295	IND	0	0	1	1	½	½	0	1	1	5,0	58	Masters
98		Bhambure Shantanu	2288	IND	½	0	1	0	½	½	1	½	½	4,5	79	Masters
99	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	2287	IND	0	1	½	½	1	0	½	0	0	3,5	107	Masters
100	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2286	IND	0	½	0	½	½	0	½	1	1	4,0	106	Masters
101	WIM	Srija Seshadri	2284	IND	0	½	0	1	0	0	1	1	½	4,0	105	Masters
103		Ajay Krishna S	2280	IND	0	1	½	0	½	1	0	1	½	4,5	73	Masters
105	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2272	IND	½	0	½	1	0	½	½	½	½	4,0	99	Masters
106	FM	Nitish Belurkar	2271	IND	½	0	1	½	½	1	½	½	0	4,5	66	Masters
107	IM	Siva Mahadevan	2270	IND	0	½	1	0	0	½	½	1	1	4,5	75	Masters
108	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2259	IND	0	0	0	1	1	0	½	1	½	4,0	104	Masters
109	FM	Wagh Suyog	2253	IND	0	½	0	½	1	0	1	½	0	3,5	110	Masters
110	CM	Kushagra Mohan	2252	IND	½	0	1	0	½	½	1	0	½	4,0	91	Masters
113	WIM	Aakanksha Hagawane	2244	IND	0	0	½	½	1	½	½	0	½	3,5	120	Masters
114	FM	Deshpande Aniruddha	2234	IND	1	0	½	0	0	1	1	½	½	4,5	70	Masters
115	WIM	Pujari Rucha	2232	IND	0	0	½	1	1	0	0	½	0	3,0	129	Masters
117	FM	Srihari L R	2227	IND	0	0	0	1	1	½	½	1	0	4,0	97	Masters
118		Senthil Maran K	2222	IND	1	1	0	½	½	0	½	½	½	4,5	64	Masters
120	FM	Ajay Karthikeyan	2213	IND	0	½	0	0	½	1	½	0	½	3,0	132	Masters
124		Priyanka K	2201	IND	0	½	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	3,5	122	Masters
126		Soham Datar	2192	IND	0	0	0	½	½	½	0	1	0	2,5	143	Masters
128	WCM	Mrudul Dehankar	2188	IND	½	½	0	0	0	½	½	1	1	4,0	100	Masters
130	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	2173	IND	1	0	½	1	½	1	0	½	1	5,5	32	Masters
131		Arjun C Krishnamachari	2172	IND	0	½	0	½	0	0	½	½	0	2,0	146	Masters
132		Utsab Chatterjee	2163	IND	0	1	0	½	0	1	0	0	½	3,0	130	Masters
134	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2147	IND	0	0	1	½	1	0	0	½	0	3,0	131	Masters
137		Panda Sambit	2126	IND	½	0	1	½	0	½	0	0	1	3,5	116	Masters
143		Panesar Vedant	2102	IND	0	½	½	½	½	½	0	0	1	3,5	123	Masters
144		Srihari L	2101	IND	0	½	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	3,5	125	Masters
145	FM	Vatsal Singhania	2087	IND	1	0	0	1	0	½	½	½	0	3,5	114	Masters
146	WCM	Sharma Isha	2078	IND	0	1	0	0	½	½	0	0	1	3,0	136	Masters
147		Thrish Karthik	2075	IND	0	0	0	½	0	½	½	½	0	2,0	147	Masters
148	WFM	Salonika Saina	2068	IND	½	½	½	0	0	½	0	½	0	2,5	139	Masters
149		Soham Kamotra	2061	IND	1	½	0	0	½	½	0	½	½	3,5	112	Masters
150	WFM	Tarini Goyal	2038	IND	½	½	0	½	½	1	0	½	1	4,5	83	Masters

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