Pranav Venkatesh convincingly clinches Fujairah Global Superstars with a 2843 performance

by Shahid Ahmed - 02/09/2025

GM Pranav Venkatesh defeated GM Alan Pichot (ESP) to win Fujairah Global Superstars 2025 convincingly. In an equal rook and many pawns endgame, Pichot misplayed which cost him the half point. The reigning World Junior champion performed at 2843 which is certainly a testament to his dominant show at this event. Starting the event with a win over the top seed, GM Nihal Sarin, it was only fitting that Pranav finished the event with a victory too. GM Aditya Mittal is the only other Indian to make a top ten finish in Superstars. He scored an impressive unbeaten 5.5/9 with a 2701 performance to finish sixth. The first US-born African-American GM Brewington Hardaway won the Masters section scoring 7.5/9. The reigning National champion, GM Karthik Venkataraman is the sole Indian to make a top ten finish in it. He scored 7/9 to claim fourth place. Photo: IA Vivek Sohani

Superstars: Jiner Zhu and Aditya Mittal impressive, Masters: Brewington Hardaway becomes the champion

GM Brandon Jacobson (USA), GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (MEX) and GM M Amin Tabatabaei (IRI) scored 6/9 each. They secured second to fourth place according to tie-breaks. GM Jiner Zhu (CHN) scored an impressive 5.5/9 to finish fifth. GM Aditya Mittal was placed sixth. He also scored 5.5/9. In the Masters section, GM Brewington Hardaway (USA) scored 7.5/9 to win the event. Five players - IM Umut Ata Akbas (TUR), FM Artin Ashraf (IRI), GM Karthik Venkataraman, IM Reza Mahdavi (IRI) and IM Nico Chasin (USA) scored 7/9 each. They were placed second to sixth respectively according to tie-breaks. Karthik was the sole Indian among top ten finishers in Masters. The total prize fund of all events was US$ 125000, $80000 in the Superstars (>2600), $30000 in Masters (2200-2599) and $15000 in Open (<2200). Top three prizes were - US$ 23000, $13000 and $9000 each.

Superstars Champion: GM Pranav Venkatesh 7/9 | Photo: IA Vivek Sohani and Anna Shtourman

Interview with GM Pranav Venkatesh | Video: ChessBase India

Top 3 in Superstars: 3rd GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (MEX) 6/9, 1st GM Pranav Venkatesh 7/9 and 2nd GM Brandon Jacobson (USA) 6/9 | Photo: Anna Shtourman

Pranav V - Pichot

Position after 36...a4?

GM Alan Pichot (ESP, 2581) misplayed the equal rook and many pawns endgame against GM Pranav Venkatesh (2597). 36...a4? was his final mistake. 37.bxa4+- g6 38.Re5+ Kf6 39.a5 White went on to win the game comfortably. Thus, Pranav became a champion by finishing a full point ahead of the rest.

GM Alan Pichot (ESP) realizing how he squandered a half point against the eventual champion, GM Pranav Venkatesh | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

GM Pranav Venkatesh scored 7/9, finished a full point ahead of the competition, performed at 2843 and increased his Elo rating by 28.2 points

5th GM Jiner Zhu (CHN) 5.5/9 | Photo: Anna Shtourman

GM Aditya Mittal defeated GM Ivan Zemlyanskii to finish sixth | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

6th in Superstars - GM Aditya Mittal 5.5/9 | Photo: Anna Shtourman

Masters Champion - GM Brewington Hardaway (USA) 7.5/9 | Photo: IA Vivek Sohani

Interview with GM Brewington Hardaway (USA) | Video: ChessBase India

Open Champion - FM Alimzhan Zauynbay (KAZ) 8/9 | Photo: IA Vivek Sohani

The Champions - GM Brewington Hardaway (USA) 7.5/9, GM Pranav Venkatesh 7/9 annd FM Alimzhan Zauynbay (KAZ) 8/9 | Photo: IA Vivek Sohani

For more Round 9 photos, please click here and here.

Replay live stream

Replay Round 9 live commentary by Angelika Valkova (UKR) and GM Viorel Iordachescu (MDA) | Video: Fujairah Chess & Culture Club

Closing ceremony | Video: Fujairah Chess & Culture Club

Replay Round 9 Superstars games

Replay Round 9 Masters games

Round 9 Superstars results

Bo.	No.		White	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	FED	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	23	GM	PRANAV, V	IND	2597	6	1 - 0	5	GM	PICHOT, Alan	ESP	2581	34	PGN
2	17	GM	DONCHENKO, Alexander	GER	2616	5	½ - ½	5½	GM	TABATABAEI, M. Amin	IRI	2673	3	PGN
3	1	GM	NIHAL, Sarin	IND	2692	5	½ - ½	5½	GM	JACOBSON, Brandon	USA	2594	27	PGN
4	9	GM	SJUGIROV, Sanan	HUN	2636	5	½ - ½	5	GM	MISHRA, Abhimanyu	USA	2610	18	PGN
5	4	GM	SHANKLAND, Sam	USA	2670	4½	0 - 1	5	GM	MARTINEZ ALCANTARA, Jose Eduardo	MEX	2636	8	PGN
6	35	GM	HONG, Andrew	USA	2580	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	LU, Shanglei	CHN	2647	5	PGN
7	44	GM	ZHU, Jiner	CHN	2536	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	CHEPARINOV, Ivan	BUL	2625	12	PGN
8	13	GM	DANESHVAR, Bardiya	IRI	2625	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	MURADLI, Mahammad	AZE	2586	31	PGN
9	19	GM	SULEYMANLI, Aydin	AZE	2609	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	NARAYANAN, S L	IND	2595	26	PGN
10	42	GM	ADITYA, Mittal	IND	2560	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	ZEMLYANSKII, Ivan	FID	2586	32	PGN
11	33	GM	DUDIN, Gleb	HUN	2583	4	½ - ½	4	GM	THEODOROU, Nikolas	GRE	2646	6	PGN
12	15	GM	IVANCHUK, Vasyl	UKR	2623	4	½ - ½	4	GM	GREBNEV, Aleksey	FID	2595	24	PGN
13	29	GM	PRANESH, M	IND	2589	4	1 - 0	4	GM	BHARATH, Subramaniyam H	IND	2562	41	PGN
14	43	GM	MOVAHED, Sina	IRI	2558	4	1 - 0	3½	GM	VOLOKITIN, Andrei	UKR	2628	11	PGN
15	40	GM	PIORUN, Kacper	POL	2568	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	MENDONCA, Leon Luke	IND	2606	20	PGN
16	25	GM	MOTYLEV, Alexander	ROU	2595	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	KUZUBOV, Yuriy	UKR	2600	22	PGN
17	37	GM	SOCKO, Bartosz	POL	2574	3	1 - 0	3	GM	KANTOR, Gergely	HUN	2569	39	PGN
18	38	GM	GORSHTEIN, Ido	ISR	2571	2½	½ - ½	3	GM	DARDHA, Daniel	BEL	2616	16	PGN

Details

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	K	rtg+/-
1	23	GM	PRANAV, V		IND	2597	7	2629	0	39	4	10	28,2
2	27	GM	JACOBSON, Brandon		USA	2594	6	2642	0	39	4	10	20,2
3	8	GM	MARTINEZ ALCANTARA, Jose Eduardo		MEX	2636	6	2606	0	34	5	10	10,7
4	3	GM	TABATABAEI, M. Amin		IRI	2673	6	2602	0	35,5	5	10	5,8
5	44	GM	ZHU, Jiner	w	CHN	2536	5,5	2627	0	35	4	10	20,5
6	42	GM	ADITYA, Mittal		IND	2560	5,5	2625	0	31,5	4	10	17,6
7	17	GM	DONCHENKO, Alexander		GER	2616	5,5	2614	0	32,5	4	10	8,9
8	9	GM	SJUGIROV, Sanan		HUN	2636	5,5	2609	0	37	4	10	5,6
9	18	GM	MISHRA, Abhimanyu		USA	2610	5,5	2608	0	34,5	5	10	8,8
10	5	GM	LU, Shanglei		CHN	2647	5,5	2606	0	29,5	4	10	4,5
11	19	GM	SULEYMANLI, Aydin		AZE	2609	5,5	2599	0	35	4	10	7,8
12	1	GM	NIHAL, Sarin		IND	2692	5,5	2593	0	35,5	4	10	-2,7
13	29	GM	PRANESH, M		IND	2589	5	2637	0	35	4	10	10
14	31	GM	MURADLI, Mahammad		AZE	2586	5	2637	0	31,5	5	10	10,6
15	34	GM	PICHOT, Alan		ESP	2581	5	2634	0	32,5	5	10	11

Details

Masters Round 9 results

9	2	50	IM	SAPENOV Daniyal	KAZ	2429	6	0 - 1	6	GM	KARTHIK Venkataraman	IND	2556	2
9	4	72	IM	KUSHAGRA Mohan	IND	2408	6	½ - ½	6	GM	SIVUK Vitaly	SWE	2495	16
9	7	55	IM	AKBAS Umut Ata	TUR	2425	6	1 - 0	6	IM	JUBIN Jimmy	IND	2464	34
9	9	85	IM	AADITYA Dhingra	IND	2394	6	0 - 1	6	IM	MAHDAVI Reza	IRI	2454	39
9	10	80	IM	SHAHIL Dey	IND	2401	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	SANAL Vahap	TUR	2550	3
9	13	25	IM	STRIBUK Artiom	FID	2474	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	SOHAM Kamotra	IND	2407	74
9	15	36	GM	PRRANEETH Vuppala	IND	2458	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	GASPARYAN Erik R.	ARM	2372	101
9	16	49	IM	KURU Atilla	TUR	2435	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	VIANI Antonio Dcunha	IND	2364	104
9	17	51	IM	MOHAMED Anees M	IND	2428	5½	0 - 1	5½	FM	NOVOZHILOV Semen	RUS	2358	109
9	18	71	IM	JAIN Kashish Manoj	IND	2408	5	0 - 1	5	GM	GHARIBYAN Mamikon	ARM	2495	15

Details

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	K	rtg+/-
1	14	GM	HARDAWAY, Brewington		USA	2499	7,5	2454	0	43	4	10	19
2	55	IM	AKBAS, Umut Ata		TUR	2425	7	2449	0	36	4	10	25,9
3	52	FM	ASHRAF, Artin		IRI	2428	7	2438	0	34,5	5	10	24,2
4	2	GM	KARTHIK, Venkataraman		IND	2556	7	2433	0	40	5	10	9,1
5	39	IM	MAHDAVI, Reza		IRI	2454	7	2396	0	36,5	4	10	11,7
6	37	IM	CHASIN, Nico		USA	2458	7	2392	0	39,5	4	10	15
7	65	IM	SONG, Yuxin	w	CHN	2414	6,5	2444	0	41,5	4	10	15,6
8	16	GM	SIVUK, Vitaly		SWE	2495	6,5	2442	0	43	4	10	8,3
9	109	FM	NOVOZHILOV, Semen		RUS	2358	6,5	2431	0	36,5	4	20	51,8
10	54	GM	ROZUM, Ivan		RUS	2426	6,5	2424	0	36	4	10	17,7

Details

Final standings in Open

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB3	TB4
1	37	FM	ZHAUYNBAY, Alimzhan	U12	KAZ	2071	8	46	38,5	5
2	25		BAGHDASARYAN, Davit	U16	ARM	2116	7,5	50,5	42,5	5
3	5	CM	SHIRLIYEV, Allayar		TKM	2181	7,5	50	42,5	4
4	35	CM	BABANIYA, Benyamin		IRI	2083	7,5	48,5	41	4
5	97		LIU, Huaqi	U14	CHN	1870	7,5	42	35	5
6	11	CM	TOROSYAN, Volodya	U16	ARM	2156	7	52,5	44,5	5
7	21	CM	SUSLOV, Dmitrii	U18	FID	2125	7	48,5	41	4
8	38		YESSENGALI, Adizhan	U16	KAZ	2071	7	47	39,5	5
9	95		ELEMES, Beibarys	U12	KAZ	1876	7	45	37,5	5
10	58		BAGHIROV, Mahammad	U16	AZE	1994	7	43,5	36,5	4

Details

Links

Tournament Regulations

Fujairah Chess & Culture Club: Official site, fb page, instagram and youtube

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