GM Richard Rapport of Hungary (right) beat World Girls Champion Dinara Saduakassova of Kazakhstan.
GM Richard Rapport of Hungary beat World Girls Champion IM Dinara Saduakassova of Kazakhstan to set the pace after two rounds of the 25th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival Masters at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Abu Dhabi.
Rapport, second seed in the 158 player tournament, used the Nimzo-Indian defense and unleashed a queenside pawn storm to win on the 31st move. The 22-year-old Rapport shares early lead with 20 other grandmasters.
Five Indian players are in the lead pack, namely GMs Chitambaran Aravindh, 19, S.L. Narayanan, Prasanna Vishnu, and IMs Sarin Nihal and Arjun Arigasi. Also with two points each are Chinese GM Wang Hao, Ivan Cheparinov and Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia, Vladimir Fedoseev and Danil Dubov of Russia, Amin Bassim of Egypt, Nigel Short of England, Martin Kravtsiv of Ukraine, Parham Magsoodloo and Alireza Firouzja of Iran, Daniele Vocaturo of Italy, Mads Andersen of Denmark and Teymour Kuybokarov of Uzbekistan.
In the Open division of 236 players, ten Indian players form the largest group in the lead pack of 46 players with 2 points each. In the junior division with 184 players, Rayan Mohammed Al Hasan and ten other UAE players are in the lead pack among 40 players with 2 points each out of two rounds.
Over $61,000 in cash prizes are at stake in the tournament organized by the Abu Dhabi Chess Club and the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation under the patronage of H.H Sheikh Nahyan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Sport Council.
A strong field of 47 grandmasters, 30 International Masters, 7 Woman Grandmasters, 6 Woman International Masters, 20 FIDE Masters and 2 Woman FIDE Masters in a record field of 158 players from 32 countries are competing in the Masters event. The Festival consists of an elite Masters championship for players rated above 2100, an Open tournament for those rated below 2100 and a Junior championship for players under 16 years of age.
Games are scheduled 5 p.m. There are no matches on Friday but there will be a simultaneous exhibition at 3 p.m. and a blitz tournament starting 5 p.m. A family tournament and a Homeland protectors’ tournament will be held 2 p.m. on 13 August.
Full results at: http://chess-results.com/tnr354821.aspx?lan=1&art=0&flag=30