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The 29th edition of the Abu Dhabi Masters is taking place on August 16-24 at the Radisson Blu Hotel & Resort. The 9-round Swiss open has Vladislav Artemiev, David Anton and Maxim Matlakov as the top seeds. After three rounds, none of the top-3 are in the leading pack. Five players are sharing first place with 3 out of 3: Vladimir Fedoseev, Xu Xiangyu, Alisher Suleymenov, Rathanvel V S and Abtin Atakhan.
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu beat his good friend Arjun Erigaisi in a series of tense rapid and blitz tiebreaks to reach the semifinals of the FIDE World Cup. The 18-year-old all but secured a spot in the next edition of the Candidates Tournament. Meanwhile, in the women’s category, Nurgyul Salimova upset Anna Muzychuk to reach the final of the event. Salimova thus qualified to the Women’s Candidates, while Muzychuk will face Tan Zhongyi for a spot in the all-important event. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
Nijat Abasov, the 69th seed in the open section of the FIDE World Cup, has all but secured a spot in the next edition of the Candidates Tournament, as he beat Vidit Gujrathi with white to knock him out of the event. Since Magnus Carlsen, his next opponent, also reached the semifinals and is very likely to skip the Candidates, the Azerbaijani will not even need to finish among the top-3 to reach the 8-player World Championship qualifier. Fabiano Caruana also advanced to the semifinals, while Praggnanandhaa bounced back in his match against Arjun Erigaisi. Among the women, Aleksandra Goryachkina...
Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi both won with black to take a 1-point lead in their quarterfinal matches against Dommaraju Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa, respectively. Leinier Dominguez got winning chances but failed to find precise continuations against Fabiano Caruana, while Vidit Gujrathi and Nijat Abasov signed a 109-move draw on Tuesday. In the women’s section, Aleksandra Goryachkina defeated Tan Zhongyi, also with black. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
Four out of the eight players who reached the quarterfinals in the open section of the FIDE World Cup are Indian, as Vidit Gujrathi joined Praggnanandhaa, Arjun and Gukesh by beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the tiebreaks of the round-of-16. In the women’s section, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Anna Muzychuk and Nurgyul Salimova advanced to the semifinals. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage