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 Defense 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.
GM Richard Rapport of Hungary
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 S.L. Narayanan of India in 61 moves of a Ruy Lopez. Dubov crushed the Sicilian defense of GM Alireza Firouzja of Iran in only 33 moves. Bassem used the King’s Indian defense to outmaneuver 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 A.R. Saleh smashed the Sicilian defense 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 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.
Two rounds are scheduled on Saturday. Watch games live on chess24.com. Look for ADchess in Youtube for running commentary by GM Viorel Iordachescu.
Visit chess-results.com to download games.