Rapport wins, shares lead with five GMs

abu dhabi — Richard Rapport of Hungary beat GM Mads Andersen of Denmark on top board to share the lead with five other grandmasters with perfect scores after three rounds of the Abu Dhabi Masters Chess Championship at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Abu Dhabi.

Rapport smashed the Sicilian Defence of Andersen, penetrating with his Rook on the seventh rank then forced exchanges to transpose to a Rook and pawn endgame and force resignation on the 56th move.

Tied with Rapport at 3 points each are GMs Wang Hao of China, Daniil Dubov of Russia, Amin Bassem of Egypt, Martin Kravtsiv of Ukraine and Daniele Vocaturo of Italy.

Wang beat GM SL Narayanan of India in 61 moves of a Ruy Lopez. Dubov crushed the Sicilian defence of GM Alireza Firouzja of Iran in only 33 moves. Bassem used the King’s Indian defence to outmanoeuvre IM Sarin Nihal of India in 48 moves of a Rook and pawn endgame.

Kravtsiv beat IM Arjun Erigaisi of India in 63 moves of a Catalan. Vocaturo outplayed IM Gunay Mammadzada of Azerbaijan in 38 moves.

Local hero GM Salem AR Saleh smashed the Sicilian defence of FM Rithvik Raja of India in only 28 moves to trail with 2.5 points together with 18 others in the 9-round Swiss system tournament among 158 players.

In the Open division of 236 players, Woman Candidate Master Varshini Sahithi of India and 15 others tie for the lead with 3 points. In the junior division with 184 players, four Indians are in the lead pack of 8 players with 4 points out of as many rounds.

Over $61,000 in cash prizes are at stake in the tournament.