Aravindh or Arjun - Who will win 23rd Dubai Open 2023?

by Shahid Ahmed - 04/06/2023

Arjun Erigaisi defeated the China no.2 and World no.19 Yangyi Yu in the penultimate round of 23rd Dubai Open 2023. The India no.5 did what the position required him to do in the endgame and managed to outsmart his opponent to join the leaders. Aravindh Chithambaram missed his fourth consecutive opportunity to win and ended up splitting the point with Abhijeet Gupta. He is still in the championship race. Arjun and Aravindh will face each other in the final round. 44th Chess Olympiad Gold medalist, Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) and Maxim Matlakov are the remaining two leaders at 6/8 each. They will collide each other in the final round. Round 9 starts today at 10 a.m. local time, 11:30 a.m. IST. Photos: Aditya Sur Roy

Arjun Erigaisi beats China no.2, World no.19

Yangyi Yu becomes the coleader of Aravindh Chithambaram 5.5/7

Yangyi - Arjun

Position after 26...h5

GM Arjun Erigaisi (2701) was facing GM Yangyi Yu (CHN, 2729) in a rated game for the very first time. He did as per the position's demand. 24...Rc8 25.Qd3 g5 26.h3 h5 27.d5 g4 28.hxg4 hxg4 29.Ne5 Nxd5. Soon the queens got traded and Black arrived at a rook and bishop vs rook and knight endgame which was winning for him.

Abhijeet - Aravindh: 0.5-0.5

The last time GM Abhijeet Gupta (2630) faced GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2633) at the very same event was a little over a decade ago. That game ended in a draw which is their sole draw in rated games. Since then, they only had decisive games. Abhijeet prevailed in their last encounter at Commonwealth 2019. Aravindh got a good opportunity to avenge that loss.

Position after 43.c4

The above diagram is advantageous for Black, although he has a queen and bishop against his opponent's queen and knight. 43...Qd4 and then Bd8 is recommended here. The game continued 43...Bd8 44.Ke2 Qd7 Black's opportunity was lost and the game ended in a draw. So what is the key difference between playing Qd4 first instead of Bd8 ? After 43...Qd4, White is unable to go 44.Ke2 due to Qe3+ forcing the king to go back. Without Ke2 supporting the knight, White is unable to get Qe4 which means Black can transfer the bishop to the crucial a7-g1 diagonal without any difficulty.

GM Aravindh Chithambaram misses his fourth consecutive opportunity to push for a win

Eduardo - Karthik

Position after 13.Ne2?

GM Karthik Venkataraman (2528) had never defeated GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli (2637) until yesterday. White went wrong early in the middlegame 13.Ne2? d4! 14.Qb1 Bg4 15.Rcd1 Ng5 16.Nxg5 Bxe2 17.Ne4 dxe3 18.dxe3 Bxd1 and it was over.

GM Karthik Venkataraman is poised for a strong finish

GM Lalit Rohit made the most out of his opponent's blunder in the queen and rook major piece endgame

GM B Adhiban - GM Aditya Mittal: 0.5-0.5

For more Round 8 photos, please click here.

A total of 81 players including 47 GMs, 19 IMs, a WGM and 3 WIMs are taking part in the Category A (>2200) from 31 countries across the world. The tournament is being organized by Dubai Chess & Culture Club from 27th May to 4th June 2023 at Dubai Chess & Culture Club, UAE. The nine-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay Round 8 games

Round 8 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
8	1	1	GM	Yu Yangyi	2729	5½	0 - 1	5	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2701	3
8	2	10	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2630	5	½ - ½	5½	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2633	9
8	7	8	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo	2637	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2528	34
8	10	33	GM	Lalit Babu M R	2529	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Kovalev Vladislav	2612	15
8	13	13	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2627	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Gavrilescu David	2535	32
8	14	23	GM	Theodorou Nikolas	2591	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	39
8	15	24	GM	Adhiban B.	2589	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Aditya Mittal	2522	36
8	18	18	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2602	3½	0 - 1	4	IM	Ohanyan Emin	2444	51
8	19	26	GM	Romanov Evgeny	2578	3½	0 - 1	3½	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2404	60
8	23	50	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2460	3½	½ - ½	3½	IM	Erdogmus Yagiz Kaan	2470	47
8	33	46	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2476	2½	1 - 0	2½	WIM	Mkrtchyan Mariam	2360	70
8	38	52	IM	Panda Sambit	2436	2	1 - 0	2	WIM	Mandura Tijana	2203	86

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	K	rtg+/-
1	9	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2633	6	2631	0	37,5	10	17,3
2	3	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2701	6	2621	0	30,5	10	9,6
3	7	GM	Sindarov, Javokhir	UZB	2661	6	2618	0	33	10	13,2
4	6	GM	Matlakov, Maxim	RUS	2662	6	2590	0	33	10	10,5
5	5	GM	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	IRI	2677	5,5	2633	0	34	10	8
6	1	GM	Yu, Yangyi	CHN	2729	5,5	2628	0	35,5	10	2,5
7	75		Xue, Haowen	CHN	2335	5,5	2591	0	30,5	20	77,4
8	29	GM	Mishra, Abhimanyu	USA	2550	5,5	2579	0	32	10	15,3
9	11	GM	Sargsyan, Shant	ARM	2630	5,5	2576	0	31,5	10	7
10	34	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	IND	2528	5,5	2562	0	31	10	15,5
11	12	GM	Chigaev, Maksim	FID	2628	5,5	2559	0	32,5	10	5,2
12	10	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet	IND	2630	5,5	2553	0	33,5	10	4,9
13	16	GM	Vakhidov, Jakhongir	UZB	2607	5,5	2505	0	30,5	10	2,8
14	33	GM	Lalit, Babu M R	IND	2529	5,5	2492	0	30,5	10	6,6
15	51	IM	Ohanyan, Emin	ARM	2444	5	2598	0	28,5	10	22,2

Details

Round 9 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
9	1	3	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2701	6		6	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2633	9
9	5	75		Xue Haowen	2335	5½		5½	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2630	10
9	6	11	GM	Sargsyan Shant	2630	5½		5½	GM	Lalit Babu M R	2529	33
9	7	34	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2528	5½		5½	GM	Chigaev Maksim	2628	12
9	12	27	GM	Iskandarov Misratdin	2577	4½		4½	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2627	13
9	14	36	GM	Aditya Mittal	2522	4½		4½	GM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy	2592	21
9	16	60	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2404	4½		4½	GM	Adhiban B.	2589	24
9	21	39	GM	Sankalp Gupta	2504	4		4	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2460	50
9	25	64	FM	Laddha Shubh Jayesh	2397	3½		3½	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2476	46
9	31	52	IM	Panda Sambit	2436	3		3	IM	Tissir Mohamed	2354	72

Details

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