Salem Saleh wins Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Cup Blitz, Nihal third

by Shahid Ahmed - 10/12/2021

UAE no.1 Salem Saleh scored 8.5/11 to win Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Cup Blitz. Despite losing consecutive games in fifth and sixth round, the sharp tactician made a fantastic comeback by winning the next three games to get back at the top. In the end, he finished a half point ahead of the competition. Both Bassem Amin (EGY) and Nihal Sarin scored 8.0/11. They were placed second and third according to tie-breaks. Salem won US$ 2000, Bassem US$ 1800 and Nihal US$ 1600. Nihal's biggest victory of the event was to win against the eventual champion of the event, Salem Saleh in the fifth round. Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) won the Best woman prize. Photo: Amruta Mokal

Fedoseev clinches Rapid, Nihal fifth

Top Russian and third seed of the tournament, Vladimir Fedoseev won the Rapid event 7.0/9. He finished a full point ahead of the field. Three players finished at 6.0/9 - Denis Kadric (BIH), Hans Niemann (USA) and Rinat Jumabayev (KAZ). They were placed second to fourth according to tie-breaks. Nihal Sarin edged Bartosz Socko (POL) in tie-breaks to claim the fifth position. The top five prizes were US$ - 6000, 5000, 4000, 3000 and 2000 each respectively. Zhansaya Abdumalik won the Best Woman prize in Rapid too.

Prize winners of Rapid and Blitz along with the organizers and officials | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Round 5: Nihal - Salem: 1-0

Nihal's biggest win in the Blitz event was against the eventual winner Salem Saleh (UAE) in Round 5.

Position after 10...Rfc8

Black made an early mistake 10...Rfc8 as it cost him not only a valuable pawn but the position also started crumbling. After 11.dxc5 Qxc5 12.Qxb7 Ne4 13.Nb3 Qb6 14.Ba6 Qd8 15.Qb5 caused Black to lose an exchange and eventually the game.

Nihal Sarin vs Salem Saleh - Blitz Round 5 | Video: ChessBase India

Nihal Sarin moves from 2705 to 2725 in blitz ratings | Video: ChessBase India

Nihal performed at 2780 and gained 20.8 Elo rating points in Blitz, taking his live rating to 2725.8

Nihal gained 43.6 Elo rating points in Rapid as he performed at 2679, his live rating is 2543.6

Salem Saleh beat Mikheil Mchedlishvili (GEO) in the final round to win the tournament | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nihal beat Rinat Jumabayev (KAZ) in the final round to finish third | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) defeated Loek van Wely (NED) in the final round to finish at 13th place | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Video Gallery

Replay all games of Nihal from the Blitz event:

Nihal Sarin vs Georg Meier (URU) - Round 1 | Video: ChessBase India

Denis Kadric (BIH) vs Nihal Sarin - Round 2 | Video: ChessBase India

Nihal Sarin vs Alan Pichot (ARG) - Round 3 | Video: ChessBase India

Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI) vs Nihal Sarin - Round 4 | Video: ChessBase India

Nihal Sarin vs Salem Saleh (UAE) - Round 5 | Video: ChessBase India

Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS) vs Nihal Sarin - Round 6 | Video: ChessBase India

Nihal Sarin vs Amin Bassem (EGY) - Round 7 | Video: ChessBase India

Daniel Fridman (GER) vs Nihal Sarin - Round 8 | Video: ChessBase India

Nihal Sarin vs Viktor Erdos (HUN) - Round 9 | Video: ChessBase India

Bartosz Socko (POL) vs Nihal Sarin - Round 10 | Video: ChessBase India

Nihal Sarin vs Rinat Jumabayev (KAZ) - Round 11 | Video: ChessBase India

Nihal Sarin vs Vladislav Kovalev (FID) - Rapid Round 8 | Video: ChessBase India

Interview with the Tournament director - IA IO FI Saeed Shakari | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Blitz Round 1-11 games

Replay Rapid Round 4-9 games

The tournament took place at Expo 2020 Dubai, Dubai Exhibition Center, Dubai in the UAE from 6th to 8th December 2021. Every day, three rounds of Rapid games were played. Time control for Rapid was 15 minutes + 10 seconds increment per move starting from move 1. The Blitz event happened on 9th December 2021 at the same venue. Time control for Blitz was 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move starting from move no.1.

Blitz Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	K	rtg+/-
1	7	GM	Salem A.R. Saleh		UAE	2642	8,5	0,0	63,5	68,0	2	8	20	44,2
2	10	GM	Amin Bassem		EGY	2617	8,0	0,5	63,5	69,0	3	6	20	40,4
3	1	GM	Nihal Sarin		IND	2705	8,0	0,5	62,5	66,5	3	6	20	20,8
4	20	GM	Bellahcene Bilel		ALG	2493	7,0	0,0	59,5	63,5	3	5	20	66,2
5	11	GM	Erdos Viktor		HUN	2599	6,5	0,0	59,0	62,0	2	6	20	5,0
6	2	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir		RUS	2690	6,0	0,0	67,5	73,0	2	6	20	-16,2
7	21	GM	Kadric Denis		BIH	2469	6,0	0,0	64,0	67,5	2	5	20	56,8
8	8	GM	Pichot Alan		ARG	2629	6,0	0,0	63,5	67,5	2	3	20	-0,4
9	15	GM	Jumabayev Rinat		KAZ	2536	6,0	0,0	63,0	65,0	2	5	20	30,2
10	3	GM	Niemann Hans Moke		USA	2680	6,0	0,0	59,0	63,0	1	6	20	-20,0
11	14	GM	Socko Bartosz		POL	2571	5,5	0,0	59,5	62,5	3	5	20	-3,0
12	6	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham		IRI	2655	5,5	0,0	58,5	60,5	1	5	20	-28,0
13	22	GM	Abdumalik Zhansaya	w	KAZ	2380	5,5	0,0	57,0	59,0	0	5	20	50,8
14	9	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil		GEO	2618	5,5	0,0	56,5	58,5	3	5	20	-34,8
15	5	GM	Sargissian Gabriel		ARM	2661	5,5	0,0	56,0	59,0	2	4	20	-36,2
16	16	GM	Iordachescu Viorel		MDA	2534	5,5	0,0	52,5	54,5	1	4	20	-4,2
17	19	GM	Ivanisevic Ivan		SRB	2499	5,0	0,0	52,5	54,5	2	4	20	-4,0
18	17	GM	Kovalev Vladislav		FID	2527	4,5	1,0	56,5	58,5	2	3	20	-13,2
19	13	GM	Meier Georg		URU	2584	4,5	1,0	51,0	53,0	1	4	20	-38,6
20	12	GM	Van Wely Loek		NED	2593	4,5	1,0	48,5	50,5	2	4	20	-47,6
21	4	GM	Fridman Daniel		GER	2663	4,0	0,0	57,5	60,5	1	3	20	-56,4
22	18	GM	Santos Ruiz Miguel		ESP	2527	3,5	0,0	49,0	51,0	1	3	20	-41,4
23	23	IM	Sukandar Irine Kharisma	w	INA	2265	3,0	0,0	50,0	52,0	2	3	20	21,0
24	24	IM	Saeed Ishaq		UAE	2195	2,0	0,0	50,0	53,0	0	2	20	8,6

Details

Rapid Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	K	rtg+/-
1	3	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	RUS	2692	7,0	0,0	41,0	45,0	20	15,6
2	15	GM	Kadric Denis	BIH	2542	6,0	0,0	41,5	42,5	20	38,0
3	23	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	USA	2327	6,0	0,0	41,0	45,0	20	86,4
4	12	GM	Jumabayev Rinat	KAZ	2562	6,0	0,0	39,0	40,0	20	25,8
5	18	GM	Nihal Sarin	IND	2500	5,5	0,0	40,0	43,5	20	43,6
6	13	GM	Socko Bartosz	POL	2562	5,5	0,0	39,5	43,5	20	29,8
7	17	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	IRI	2512	5,0	0,0	43,5	47,5	20	23,6
8	20	GM	Santos Ruiz Miguel	ESP	2440	5,0	0,0	41,5	45,5	20	46,4
9	11	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil	GEO	2589	5,0	0,0	40,5	44,0	20	-4,0
10	2	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	ARM	2693	5,0	0,0	39,5	40,5	20	-25,0
11	4	GM	Meier Georg	URU	2656	5,0	0,0	38,5	42,0	20	-12,6
12	7	GM	Iordachescu Viorel	MDA	2623	5,0	0,0	37,0	38,5	20	-12,4
13	9	GM	Erdos Viktor	HUN	2601	4,5	0,0	41,5	43,0	20	-20,6
14	14	GM	Fridman Daniel	GER	2542	4,5	0,0	31,0	32,0	20	-6,4
15	5	GM	Kovalev Vladislav	FID	2647	4,0	0,0	45,5	50,0	20	-35,4
16	1	GM	Salem A.R. Saleh	UAE	2729	4,0	0,0	39,5	41,0	20	-47,8
17	16	GM	Pichot Alan	ARG	2523	4,0	0,0	38,5	41,5	20	-2,0
18	10	GM	Ivanisevic Ivan	SRB	2593	4,0	0,0	36,5	37,5	20	-28,0
19	19	GM	Abdumalik Zhansaya	KAZ	2449	4,0	0,0	35,0	36,5	20	18,2
20	8	GM	Amin Bassem	EGY	2614	4,0	0,0	32,0	33,0	20	-40,8
21	6	GM	Van Wely Loek	NED	2635	3,5	0,0	36,0	37,0	20	-48,6
22	22	IM	Sukandar Irine Kharisma	INA	2381	3,0	0,0	30,5	31,5	20	2,8
23	21	GM	Bellahcene Bilel	ALG	2397	1,5	0,0	33,0	34,0	20	-28,4
24	24	IM	Saeed Ishaq	UAE	2309	1,0	0,0	36,0	37,5	20	-18,2

Details

Links

Official site

Announcement

Tournament Details

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