GM Pranav V of India won the strong Masters section of the inaugural Dubai Police Global Chess Challenge, held May 4-12 in Dubai. The 17-year-old grandmaster from Bangalore edged out compatriot GM Aravindh Chithambaram on tiebreak, both with seven points, to win the trophy and $16,000. Visit chess-results.com for round by round results and standings.
It was an all-Indian podium as GM Pranesh M came third on tiebreak with 6.5 points, the same score as six other players including GMs Vasyl Ivanchuk and Hans Niemann.
Apart from the Dubai Open and the Sharjah Masters, the UAE now has a third very strong open tournament. The sponsor is an irregular one: the Dubai police. As their representative Abdulla Ali Aal Barket explained in an interview with ChessBase India, many police officers are playing chess among each other online, and their commander came with the idea for a big international tournament.
The Masters tournament was hard-fought till the end. Among the five players on six points going into the final round, Pranav and Aravindh were the only ones to win their games on Sunday. On board three it was the eventual winner Pranav, at 17 one of India’s youngest grandmasters (number 75, back in 2022!) who defeated one of his many compatriots in this tournament. It was nice to see this happening with the Center Game, an ancient opening that is seeing a bit of a revival.
Aravindh (right) and Pranav drew each other in the eighth round in Dubai. Photo: ChessBase India.
From chess.com