Raunak Sadhwani dominates 28th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival Blitz 2022

by Shahid Ahmed - 22/08/2022

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.

28th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival Blitz Open winner - GM Raunak Sadhhwani 10/11 | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Interview with 28th Abu Dhabi Blitz Open winner - GM Raunak Sadhwani | Video: ChessBase India

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.

Raunak performed at 2755 and gained 38.2 Elo rating points, taking his Blitz live rating to 2654.2

28th Abu Chess Festival 2022 Blitz Under-16 runner-up - IM Pranesh M 10/11 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

IM Pranesh M scored 10/11 with a no-draw approach, he gained 37 Elo rating points

Video Gallery

Round 3: WGM Divya Deshmukh vs GM Baadur Jobava | Video: ChessBase India

Raunak Sadhwani vs Salem Saleh | Taking on UAE no.1 in his own backyard | Video: ChessBase India

Coach vs Student - Srinath Narayanan vs Raunak Sadhwani | Video: ChessBase India

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

Details

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