In the final round of the Sharjah Open Chess Championship all top players drew their respective games. The two leaders Wang Hao and Yury Kryvoruchko made a solid draw against each other, while both Adhiban and Kravtsiv had more complicated games against Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Arkadij Naiditsch, but eventually all finished peacefully as well.

It gave a chance for the group of 12 players to catch the leaders on the podium but only 2 of them managed to do so – S.P. Sethuraman and Salem Saleh.

The encounter Salem Saleh – Alexander Areshchenko was obviously a key game for the organizers and the local spectators as nothing would have been more desirable than a victory in the last round for their player. The local chess star pleased all his fans by winning hard-fought game against the Ukrainian player to share the 1st place.

According to the regulations, main prizes were awarded based on tie-break and were not shared. Wang Hao from China became the winner of the tournament and got a trophy and $15,000. Baskaran Adhiban finished second and Martyn Kravtsiv from Ukraine is on the third place.

Harika Dronavalli made a draw against GM Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko in the last round and with 6 points out of 9 became the best women player of the tournament. Full standings below.

The closing ceremony took place right after the end of the last round and was attended by Sheikh Saud Bin Abdul Aziz Al Muala, the General Secretary of UAE chess federation Husain Al Shamssi, the General Secretary of Sharjah chess club Omran Allah, the Deputy President of the organizing committee of 1st Sharjah Championship, the Chief Arbiter Sultan al Taher, the Club Executive Manager Rajai Alsusi and other officials.

The organizers have expressed their willingness to hold the 2nd Sharjah Championship next year and to make this tournament a traditional one. They are also hoping to increase the prize fund for the next event.

News by Anastasia Karlovich

Final standings:

1 GM Wang Hao CHN 2683 – 7
2 GM Adhiban B. IND 2682 – 7
3 GM Kravtsiv Martyn UKR 2641 – 7
4 GM Kryvoruchko Yuriy UKR 2708 – 7
5 GM Sethuraman S.P. IND 2629 – 7
6 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2652 – 7
7 GM Naiditsch Arkadij AZE 2702 – 6.5
8 GM Fressinet Laurent FRA 2662 – 6.5
9 GM Amin Bassem EGY 2660 – 6.5
10 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw POL 2745 – 6.5
11 GM Pichot Alan ARG 2556 – 6.5
12 GM Adly Ahmed EGY 2593 – 6.5
13 Xu Yinglun CHN 2540 – 6.5
14 GM Sargissian Gabriel ARM 2666 – 6.5
15 GM Maghsoodloo Parham IRI 2576 – 6.5
16 GM Mareco Sandro ARG 2664 – 6.5
17 GM Safarli Eltaj AZE 2680 – 6.5
18 GM Bluebaum Matthias GER 2632 – 6.5
19 IM Xu Xiangyu CHN 2503 – 6.5
20 GM Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo VEN 2673 – 6
21 GM Akopian Vladimir ARM 2675 – 6
22 GM Areshchenko Alexander UKR 2682 – 6
23 GM Kuzubov Yuriy UKR 2643 – 6
24 GM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan IND 2526 – 6
25 GM Gledura Benjamin HUN 2588 – 6
26 Yakubboev Nodirbek UZB 2427 – 6
27 GM Oleksiyenko Mykhaylo UKR 2643 – 6
28 FM Abdusattorov Nodirbek UZB 2429 – 6
29 IM Narayanan Srinath IND 2472 – 6
30 GM Debashis Das IND 2480 – 6
31 IM Praggnanandhaa R IND 2455 – 6
32 GM Bok Benjamin NED 2596 – 6
33 GM Harika Dronavalli IND 2539 – 6
34 IM Santos Latasa Jaime ESP 2565 – 6
35 IM Stany G.A. IND 2495 – 6
36 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2676 – 5.5
37 GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J. IND 2483 – 5.5
38 IM Vignesh N R IND 2405 – 5.5
39 GM Svane Rasmus GER 2570 – 5.5
40 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V IND 2534 – 5.5
41 GM Laxman R.R. IND 2403 – 5.5
42 GM Idani Pouya IRI 2576 – 5.5
43 GM Anton Guijarro David ESP 2676 – 5.5
44 GM Schroeder Jan-Christian GER 2543 – 5.5
45 IM Asgarizadeh Ahmad IRI 2410 – 5.5
46 IM Karthikeyan P. IND 2507 – 5.5
47 IM Zude Erik Dr. GER 2408 – 5.5
48 WFM Srija Seshadri IND 2166 – 5.5
49 Sidhant Mohapatra IND 2341 – 5.5
50 GM Fier Alexandr BRA 2568 – 5.5
51 IM Shyaamnikhil P IND 2440 – 5.5
52 IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh IND 2408 – 5.5
53 IM Kuybokarov Temur UZB 2491 – 5.5
54 CM Aditya Mittal IND 2183 – 5.5
55 Arjun Kalyan IND 2280 – 5.5
56 IM Siva Mahadevan IND 2363 – 5.5
57 WGM Gomes Mary Ann IND 2316 – 5.5
58 CM Gukesh D IND 2260 – 5.5
59 IM Padmini Rout IND 2387 – 5.5
60 WIM Gagare Shalmali IND 2077 – 5.5
61 CM Kulkarni Bhakti IND 2286 – 5.5
62 IM Santos Ruiz Miguel ESP 2480 – 5
63 IM Viani Antonio Dcunha IND 2410 – 5
64 FM Nihal Sarin IND 2386 – 5
65 Raahul V S IND 2306 – 5
66 IM Nitin S. IND 2432 – 5
67 GM Hesham Abdelrahman EGY 2336 – 5
68 FM Sadhwani Raunak IND 2218 – 5
69 WGM Mamedjarova Turkan AZE 2267 – 5
70 Saurabh Anand IND 2284 – 5
71 FM Saeed Ishaq UAE 2312 – 5
72 IM Pascua Haridas PHI 2440 – 5
73 Ashwath R. IND 2242 – 5
74 FM Thakur Akash IND 2363 – 5
75 WGM Abdumalik Zhansaya KAZ 2430 – 5
76 FM Bolourchifard Farzad IRI 2310 – 5
77 CM Sindarov Javokhir UZB 2374 – 5
78 IM Omar Noaman UAE 2379 – 5
79 IM Rajesh V A V IND 2324 – 5
80 Hakobyan Eduard ARM 1929 – 5
81 IM Roy Prantik IND 2372 – 5
82 CM Nikhil Magizhnan IND 2077 – 5
83 FM Mohannad Farhan JOR 2292 – 5
84 FM Othman A. Moussa UAE 2273 – 5
85 Harikrishnan.A.Ra IND 2305 – 5
86 GM Lazarev Vladimir FRA 2376 – 5
87 Nair Sanjeev IND 1938 – 5
88 Pranav V IND 2149 – 5
89 GM Neverov Valeriy UKR 2477 – 4.5
90 Iniyan P IND 2378 – 4.5
91 IM Swayams Mishra IND 2450 – 4.5
92 Nishant Malhotra IND 2198 – 4.5
93 Vantika Agrawal IND 2130 – 4.5
94 GM Mammadov Zaur AZE 2422 – 4.5
95 GM Lalith Babu M R IND 2593 – 4.5
96 Kulkarni Rakesh IND 2325 – 4.5
97 Nadimifar Adnan IRI 2219 – 4.5
98 WFM Cholleti Sahajasri IND 2120 – 4.5
99 WCM Isha Sharma IND 1878 – 4.5
100 IM Kanter Eduard RUS 2383 – 4.5
101 WGM Maisuradze Nino FRA 2273 – 4.5
102 Dodeja Pawan IND 2235 – 4.5
103 Yashas D. IND 2284 – 4.5
104 WIM Mammadova Narmin AZE 2240 – 4.5
105 Jayakumaar S IND 2229 – 4.5
106 CM Mendonca Leon Luke IND 2110 – 4.5
107 WGM Mamedjarova Zeinab AZE 2322 – 4.5
108 Nayak Rajesh IND 2034 – 4.5
109 Jeet Jain IND 2078 – 4.5
110 Panda Sambit IND 1959 – 4.5
111 IM Sharif Mehrshad FRA 2385 – 4.5
112 Al Ansi Amin OMA 1945 – 4.5
113 Saranya Y IND 1890 – 4.5
114 Thrish Karthik IND 1817 – 4.5
115 FM Alhuwar Jasem UAE 2260 – 4
116 Sankalp Gupta IND 2265 – 4
117 IM Rathnakaran K. IND 2383 – 4
118 FM Dutta Joydeep IND 2145 – 4
119 Pranav Anand IND 2083 – 4
120 Kumar Gaurav IND 2172 – 4
121 IM Praveen Kumar C IND 2294 – 4
122 WIM Khalafova Narmin AZE 2255 – 4
123 Priyanka Nutakki IND 2084 – 4
124 Asgarova Turan AZE 1966 – 4
125 Harini S. IND 2150 – 4
126 Lakshmi Krishna Bhushan D IND 1958 – 4
127 Panesar Vedant IND 2036 – 4
128 Ali Abdulaziz UAE 2007 – 4
129 FM Salim Mohammed Salim Al Amri OMA 2024 – 4
130 Rafee Mohd Hayel SYR 1848 – 4
131 Al Yaghshi M. Hisham SYR 2056 – 4
132 Aditya S Hariharan IND 1882 – 4
133 Siddharth Sabharishankar IND 1950 – 4
134 Jeel Shah IND 1764 – 4
135 WIM Maroroa Sue ENG 2144 – 4
136 CM Salim Issa Ali Shamas OMA 1903 – 4
137 Jijo Joy IND 1589 – 4
138 WIM Pratyusha Bodda IND 2281 – 3.5
139 CM Al Khateeb Taher KUW 2005 – 3.5
140 Arjun K IND 2232 – 3.5
141 Sarvesh Kumar A IND 1827 – 3.5
142 Sameir Ramez EGY 2062 – 3.5
143 Kavinda Akila SRI 2084 – 3.5
144 Baivab Mishra IND 2105 – 3.5
145 IM Sultan Ibrahim UAE 2033 – 3.5
146 CM Mullick Raahil IND 1710 – 3.5
147 WFM Salonika Saina IND 2098 – 3.5
148 Mohammed Ahmed Said Al Amri OMA 1553 – 3.5
149 Vijay Anand M. IND 1956 – 3.5
150 Soyunlu Narmin AZE 2032 – 3.5
151 WIM Al-Zarouni Kholoud Essa UAE 1835 – 3.5
152 Saksham Rautela IND 1908 – 3.5
153 Srimathi R IND 1810 – 3.5
154 WGM Safranska Anda FRA 2217 – 3
155 Abdulkarim Ali UAE 1972 – 3
156 FM Mayed Alrashedi UAE 2018 – 3
157 CM Rowe Duane JAM 2162 – 3
158 CM Al-Zaabi Sultan UAE 1704 – 3
159 Wettasinha Vasanta SRI 1718 – 3
160 WIM Nouman Amna UAE 1963 – 3
161 Krithigga K IND 1708 – 3
162 Dushyant Sharma IND 2013 – 3
163 Alshourfaa Hazaa KUW 1838 – 3
164 Shubham Shukla IND 1854 – 3
165 Yohan J. IND 2164 – 3
166 Zayed Sultan Al Taher UAE 1309 – 3
167 Mohamed Marshool UAE 1803 – 3
168 Makhija Aashna IND 1858 – 3
169 Ali Rashid Ali UAE 1710 – 3
170 Danilo Reyes G. PHI 1750 – 3
171 Abdalla Yahya Alhammadi UAE 1345 – 3
172 Rajesh Vasanthakumar IND 1744 – 2.5
173 Hamad Essam UAE 1691 – 2.5
174 Al Houti Houd OMA 1872 – 2.5
175 Al-Hammadi Fatima Hussein UAE 1520 – 2.5
176 WCM Abeer Ali UAE 1613 – 2.5
177 Abdulrahman Mohammad Al Taher UAE 1380 – 2.5
178 GM Halkias Stelios GRE 2584 – 2
179 FM Ammar Sedrani UAE 1810 – 2
180 Saif Ahmed UAE 1689 – 2
181 Abdulrahim Salem UAE 1429 – 2
182 Omar Mohammad Al Taher UAE 1411 – 2
183 Khaled Tarek Altaher UAE 1414 – 2
184 Raji Sayel Abu Azizah PLE 1400 – 2
185 GM Banikas Hristos GRE 2567 – 1.5
186 Mosallam Mohammad UAE 1702 – 1.5
187 Dimarucut Francis Erwin PHI 2211 – 1.5
188 Sidharth Balaji Sridharan IND 1590 – 1.5
189 Al-Zarouni Aisha UAE 1583 – 1.5
190 CM Mohamed Saeed Laily UAE 1695 – 1