UAE’s Top Junior Ahmed Fareed Upsets Russian IM
Following a sensational opening-round debacle, GM Daniele Vocaturo, the first Italian to play in Dubai Open Tournaments, has ignited a fierce comeback as the Italian 24th seed won a fifth straight game to join the leaders after six rounds in the Dubai Open Chess Tournament – Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup Saturday night at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.
Vocaturo, who was derailed by untitled Mokal Amruta Sunil of India in the opening round, used the French Defence to defeat Polish GM Mateusz Bartel in 51 moves to up his tally to five points in six games. Top-seed GM David Howell of England also has five points to maintain his hold of the leadership despite successive draws in the fifth and six rounds with GM Nils Grandelius of Sweden and GM Alexander Shabalov of the US respectively.
Grandelius and Shabalov also have five points along with second-seed GM Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia, GM Dragan Solak of Turkey, GM Andrei Istratescu of France and GM Yuri Solodovnichenko of Ukraine.
UAE Players
Untitled Ahmed Fareed, one of the UAE’s up-and-coming junior players, pulled off an upset against Russian International Master (IM) Ernest Kharous to rise to three points. Other UAE players with three points are Fide Master (FM) Saeed Ishaq, who dropped his match against Armenia’s IM Vahe Baghdasaryan, FM Nabil Saleh Nabil, who defeated Jordan’s Candidate Master Rakan Alattar, and Arab Under-18 champion FM Sultan Ibrahim, who outplayed Ali Abdulla.
Arab Players
FM Yousry Salah of Egypt leads the race among Arab players with four points after defeating Sudan’s Mohammed Tarig Elther in the sixth round. IM Mohamed Ezat lost to Azerbaijan’s GM Eltaj Safarli to stay at 3.5 points, along with fellow Egyptians FM Fawzy Adham, who held Indian GM Arun Prasad to a draw, and IM Imed Abdelnabbi, who defeated Woman Grandmaster Zeinab Mamedjarova of Azerbaijan.
Prizes
The Dubai Open Chess Tournament – Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup offers a total cash purse of US$50,000 to the winners, with US$12,000 going to the champion.
Playing system
The tournament is a nine-round Swiss system event with each player allotted 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment for each move to complete a game. The event is being managed by Tournament Director Yahya Mohammed Saleh and IA Mahdi Abdul Rahim, the chief arbiter, and assisted by deputy chief arbiter IA Saeed Yousuf Shakari, IA Jamal Qasim, IA Sheikha Ali Rashid, IA Walid Abu Obeid and IA Marcel Augusto.
