25th Dubai Open R5: Grebnev grabs sole lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 01/06/2025

GM Muradli Mahammad (AZE) drew against GM Nihal Sarin in Round 5 of 25th Dubai Open 2025. It was a well contested draw and neither player had any real chances. GM Bharath Subramaniyam H lost to GM Aleksey Grebnev who emerged sole leader 4.5/5. IM S Rohith Krishna had a hard-fought draw against GM Ivan Zemlyanskii. Nihal and Rohith are the only two Indians among five pursuers at 4/5 each. The remaining three are - Muradli, GM Shant Sargsyan (ARM) and GM Sina Movahed (IRI). Nihal will face Grebnev in Round 6. It starts today at 5 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Dubai Chess & Culture Club

Nihal and Rohith in pursuit

IM Md. Imran, IM Ilamparthi A R, IM Jubin Jimmy, WGM Nandhidhaa P V and IM Raahul V S drew their respective games against GM Alan Pichot (ESP), GM Ido Gorshtein (ISR), GM Nikolozi Kacharava (GEO), GM Srihari L R and GM Shyam Sundar M.

GM Muradli Mahammad (AZE) - GM Nihal Sarin: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Dubai Chess & Culture Club

IM S Rohith Krishna (pictured) - GM Ivan Zemlyanskii: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Dubai Chess & Culture Club

Shant - Harikrishnan

Position after 55.Ba3

The bishop trade is virtually unavoidable. So what is the best way to do it? 55...Qc6 56.Bxb4 axb4 57.Qd2 Kg8 is the recommended way by computer. The reason is simple if the pawn is moved to b4 then after queen trade, white king won't be able to enter Black's territory. It means the protected passed pawn on e5 will be useless for White. However, 55...Bxa3? 56.Kxa3 b6 57.Kb2 White is waiting 57...g6/g5 was almost forced. 57...Kg8?? ended things in a hurry 58.Qa6 now g5 is too little too late.

GM Shant Sargsyan (ARM) won a complex queen and same color bishop endgame | Photo: Dubai Chess & Culture Club

GM S L Narayanan crushed IM Ashraf Artin (IRI) to move to 3.5/5

IM Md. Imran (pictured) - GM Alan Pichot (ESP): 0.5-0.5

IM Ilamparthi A R bounced back with a hard-fought draw against GM Ido Gorshtein (ISR) | Photo: Dubai Chess & Culture Club

GM Nikolozi Kacharava (GEO) - IM Jubin Jimmy (pictured): 0.5-0.5

GM Srihari L R - WGM Nandhidhaa P V (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Dubai Chess & Culture Club

Round 5 in progress | Photo: Dubai Chess & Culture Club

A total of 82 players including 31 GMs, 37 IMs and 4 WGMs are taking part from 22 countries across the world in Category A (>2300). The ninee-day nine round Rating Open tournament is being organized by and at Dubai Chess & Culture Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 27th May to 4th June 2025. The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.

Replay Round 5 games

Round 5 results in Category A

Bo.	No.		White	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	FED	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	4	GM	Muradli, Mahammad	AZE	2603	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Nihal, Sarin	IND	2693	1	PGN
2	13	GM	Bharath, Subramaniyam H	IND	2556	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Grebnev, Aleksey	FID	2556	14	PGN
3	28	IM	Rohith, Krishna S	IND	2490	3½	½ - ½	3	GM	Zemlyanskii, Ivan	RUS	2563	11	PGN
4	2	GM	Sargsyan, Shant	ARM	2666	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Harikrishnan.A.Ra,	IND	2467	37	PGN
5	32	GM	Prraneeth, Vuppala	IND	2474	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Movahed, Sina	IRI	2518	21	PGN
6	41	IM	Nitish, Belurkar	IND	2454	3	½ - ½	3	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	IND	2514	25	PGN
7	6	GM	Narayanan, S L	IND	2598	2½	1 - 0	3	FM	Ashraf, Artin	IRI	2407	65	PGN
8	34	IM	Md, Imran	IND	2472	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Pichot, Alan	ESP	2587	7	PGN
9	47	IM	Celik, Hasan Huseyin	TUR	2440	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Iniyan, Pa	IND	2573	9	PGN
10	12	GM	Gorshtein, Ido	ISR	2560	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Ilamparthi, A R	IND	2469	35	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 5

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	K	rtg+/-
1	14	GM	Grebnev, Aleksey			FID	2556	4,5	2476	0	13	9	2	10	16,3
2	4	GM	Muradli, Mahammad			AZE	2603	4	2485	0	13,5	9	1	10	9,8
3	1	GM	Nihal, Sarin			IND	2693	4	2483	0	13,5	9,5	1	10	3,1
4	28	IM	Rohith, Krishna S			IND	2490	4	2480	0	13	9	2	10	17
5	2	GM	Sargsyan, Shant			ARM	2666	4	2447	0	11,5	8,5	1	10	1,2
6	21	GM	Movahed, Sina			IRI	2518	4	2433	0	9,5	6,5	1	10	9,7
7	13	GM	Bharath, Subramaniyam H			IND	2556	3,5	2468	0	13	8,5	2	10	1,3
8	11	GM	Zemlyanskii, Ivan			RUS	2563	3,5	2449	0	12	8	1	10	2,8
9	41	IM	Nitish, Belurkar			IND	2454	3,5	2442	0	12,5	9	1	10	11,1
10	19	GM	Sokolovsky, Yahli			ISR	2539	3,5	2433	0	10,5	7,5	0	10	3,2

Details

Round 6 pairings

Bo.	No.		White	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	FED	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Nihal, Sarin	IND	2693	4		4½	GM	Grebnev, Aleksey	FID	2556	14
2	21	GM	Movahed, Sina	IRI	2518	4		4	GM	Sargsyan, Shant	ARM	2666	2
3	28	IM	Rohith, Krishna S	IND	2490	4		4	GM	Muradli, Mahammad	AZE	2603	4
4	23	IM	Aswath, S	IND	2515	3½		3½	GM	Narayanan, S L	IND	2598	6
5	11	GM	Zemlyanskii, Ivan	RUS	2563	3½		3½	GM	Sokolovsky, Yahli	ISR	2539	19
6	13	GM	Bharath, Subramaniyam H	IND	2556	3½		3½	GM	Boruchovsky, Avital	ISR	2513	26
7	25	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	IND	2514	3½		3½	GM	Aditya, Mittal	IND	2547	18
8	3	GM	Indjic, Aleksandar	SRB	2637	3		3½	IM	Nitish, Belurkar	IND	2454	41
9	5	GM	Tin, Jingyao	SGP	2601	3		3	IM	Celik, Hasan Huseyin	TUR	2440	47
10	7	GM	Pichot, Alan	ESP	2587	3		3	IM	Talibov, Shiroghlan	AZE	2423	58

Details

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