25th Dubai Open R6: Rohith Krishna joins Aleksey Grebnev in the lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 02/06/2025

GM Nihal Sarin drew with the sole leader GM Aleksey Grebnev in Round 6 of 25th Dubai Open 2025. Once again it was a solid draw and Nihal had no opportunity to score a full point. IM S Rohith Krishna continues his impressive run. He defeated GM Muradli Mahammad (AZE) to join the lead with Grebnev 5/6. GM Bharath Subramaniyam H defeated GM Avital Boruchovsky (ISR) to move to 4.5/6. Nihal, Bharath and three more players are trailing the leaders by a half point. The coleaders - Grebnev and Rohith will face each other in Round 7. It starts today at 5 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Dubai Chess & Culture Club

Nihal and Bharath trail by a half point

IM Aswath S, IM Aronyak Ghosh, IM Ilamparthi A R, IM Jubin Jimmy and IM Mayank Chakraborty drew their respective games against GM S L Narayanan, GM Aditya Mittal, GM Nikolozi Kacharava (GEO), GM Yair Parkhov (ISR) and GM Shyam Sundar M. FM Sahib Singh defeated IM Neelash Saha.

GM Nihal Sarin drew with the sole leader GM Aleksey Grebnev | Photo: Dubai Chess & Culture Club

Rohith - Muradli

Position after 13.Nd2

GM Muradli Mahammad (AZE, 2603) went for a delayed Benko Gambit when he opted for 5...b5. In the above position, trading the bishops is recommended by the computer 13...Bxg2 14.Kxg2 Nb4 and Black recovers the pawn. Instead, 13...Bf5 14.e4 Bd7 15.Nc4 Nc7 16.a4 Bb5 17.Bf1 Qe8 18.a5 Na6 19.Bd2 Bxc4 20.Bxc4 cost Black valuable time. Six out of the 19 moves were by light-squared bishop which did not do any good for Black. If anything, it helped White to gain a lot of tempi. 20...Bxb2 21.Rb1 Bg7 22.Qb3 Qd8 another loss of tempo for Black. 23.Bxa6 Rxa6 24.Qb7 Rxa5 25.Bxa5 Qxa5 26.Qxe7 and Black is positionally lost. IM S Rohith Krishna (2490) did not have any trouble converting his advantage into a win.

IM S Rohith Krishna scored an emphatic victory to join the lead with GM Aleksey Grebnev | Photo: Dubai Chess & Culture Club

IM Aswath S played a well contested draw against GM S L Narayanan

IM Aronyak Ghosh (pictured) played a quick 18-move draw against GM Aditya Mittal

IM Ilamparthi A R - GM Nikolozi Kacharava (GEO): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Dubai Chess & Culture Club

IM Jubin Jimmy (pictured) salvaged a draw in a tough battle against GM Yair Parkhov (ISR)

IM Mayank Chakraborty (pictured) - GM Shyam Sundar M: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Sahib - Neelash

Position after 54.Kg3

Both kings are vulnerable in the above position, Black's is slightly more. IM Neelash Saha (2445) could have drawn the game via perpetual check half a dozen moves ago. However, he wanted to go for maximum as he needed the win to gain valuable Elo rating points towards his GM title. 54...Re3+?? turns out to be a blunder as the king walks all the way up to f7 where it is secure and poses more threat towards the black king. FM Sahib Singh (2416) managed to achieve it and win the game.

FM Sahib Singh bounced back with a win in a game where he was ready to draw but his opponent, IM Neelash Saha wasn't | 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 6 games

Round 6 results in Category A

Bo.	No.		White	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	FED	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	1	GM	Nihal, Sarin	IND	2693	4	½ - ½	4½	GM	Grebnev, Aleksey	FID	2556	14	PGN
2	21	GM	Movahed, Sina	IRI	2518	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Sargsyan, Shant	ARM	2666	2	PGN
3	28	IM	Rohith, Krishna S	IND	2490	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Muradli, Mahammad	AZE	2603	4	PGN
4	23	IM	Aswath, S	IND	2515	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Narayanan, S L	IND	2598	6	PGN
5	11	GM	Zemlyanskii, Ivan	RUS	2563	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Sokolovsky, Yahli	ISR	2539	19	PGN
6	13	GM	Bharath, Subramaniyam H	IND	2556	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Boruchovsky, Avital	ISR	2513	26	PGN
7	25	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	IND	2514	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Aditya, Mittal	IND	2547	18	PGN
8	3	GM	Indjic, Aleksandar	SRB	2637	3	1 - 0	3½	IM	Nitish, Belurkar	IND	2454	41	PGN
9	5	GM	Tin, Jingyao	SGP	2601	3	½ - ½	3	IM	Celik, Hasan Huseyin	TUR	2440	47	PGN
10	7	GM	Pichot, Alan	ESP	2587	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Talibov, Shiroghlan	AZE	2423	58	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 6

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	K	rtg+/-
1	28	IM	Rohith, Krishna S			IND	2490	5	2504	0	19,5	15	2	10	23,5
2	14	GM	Grebnev, Aleksey			FID	2556	5	2501	0	19	14,5	2	10	18,1
3	1	GM	Nihal, Sarin			IND	2693	4,5	2497	0	21	16	1	10	1,3
4	13	GM	Bharath, Subramaniyam H			IND	2556	4,5	2479	0	19	14	2	10	5,7
5	11	GM	Zemlyanskii, Ivan			RUS	2563	4,5	2457	0	17	12	1	10	7,5
6	2	GM	Sargsyan, Shant			ARM	2666	4,5	2451	0	17,5	13	1	10	-0,8
7	21	GM	Movahed, Sina			IRI	2518	4,5	2441	0	15,5	11	1	10	11,7
8	67	IM	Davtyan, Arsen			ARM	2402	4	2526	0	16	12	1	10	20,6
9	34	IM	Md, Imran			IND	2472	4	2491	0	18	14	2	10	12,9
10	4	GM	Muradli, Mahammad			AZE	2603	4	2486	0	21,5	16,5	1	10	3,3

Details

Round 7 pairings

Bo.	No.		White	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	FED	Rtg	No.
1	14	GM	Grebnev, Aleksey	FID	2556	5		5	IM	Rohith, Krishna S	IND	2490	28
2	11	GM	Zemlyanskii, Ivan	RUS	2563	4½		4½	GM	Nihal, Sarin	IND	2693	1
3	2	GM	Sargsyan, Shant	ARM	2666	4½		4½	GM	Bharath, Subramaniyam H	IND	2556	13
4	4	GM	Muradli, Mahammad	AZE	2603	4		4½	GM	Movahed, Sina	IRI	2518	21
5	18	GM	Aditya, Mittal	IND	2547	4		4	GM	Indjic, Aleksandar	SRB	2637	3
6	6	GM	Narayanan, S L	IND	2598	4		4	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	IND	2514	25
7	67	IM	Davtyan, Arsen	ARM	2402	4		4	GM	Pichot, Alan	ESP	2587	7
8	12	GM	Gorshtein, Ido	ISR	2560	4		4	IM	Aswath, S	IND	2515	23
9	34	IM	Md, Imran	IND	2472	4		3½	IM	Ilamparthi, A R	IND	2469	35
10	41	IM	Nitish, Belurkar	IND	2454	3½		3½	GM	Tin, Jingyao	SGP	2601	5

Details

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