6-Way Tie For 1st At Dubai Open, Solak Best On Tiebreak

Six players tied for first place at the Dubai Open. GMs Dragan Solak edged out David Howell, Vladimir Fedoseev, Andrei Istratescu, Ivan Ivanisevic and Eltaj Safarli on tiebreak after all scored 7.0/9.

Dragan Solak. | Photo Dubai Chess & Culture Club.

The 17th edition of the Dubai Open will mostly be remembered for the cheating incident that has now reached mainstream media. Obviously the tournament went on, and eventually six players finished on seven points. GM Dragan Solak was declared the winner.

We pick up things after round four, when GM David Howell of England, GM Nils Grandelius of Sweden and GM Yuri Solodovnichenko of Ukraine were still on a 100 percent score.

Grandelius and Howell drew on board one, but kept their lead as Solodovnichenko lost his game to GM Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia.The Ukrainian player missed a few tactics in this 6.h3-Najdorf:

One of the leaders after five rounds was American GM Alexander Shabalov, who was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame at the start of the U.S. Championship. He beat the strong GM Sergei Zhigalko as Black:

Shabalov also did well in the next round, when he held top seed GM David Howell of England to a draw as Black. Boards two and three also ended in draws, and the group of leaders increased to eight players. One of them was GM Daniele Vocaturo, who had lost in the first round.

His fifth straight win:

Another board one draw was seen in round seven, between Solak and Howell. Two players won on the top boards tied for first place with two rounds to go: GM Vladimir Fedoseev and GM Alexander Shabalov.

Fedoseev beat Vocaturo in a Classical King's Indian with the very rare 9.Bd2!?. It certainly wasn't enough for an opening advantage, but Black's knight maneuver Nd6-f5-d4 might have been wrong here.

Shabalov won against Istratescu:

“Crowded at the top” was the theme of the tournament as Howell, Solak and Safarli won their games to join Shabalov and Fedoseev in first place.

The tournament did not have any anti-draw rules and so a lot of quick draws were seen, especially in the last round. Solak and Safarli, for example, chose a well-known move repetition to end their board two game within minutes.

Ivanisevic and Istratescu won and joined the two, scoring seven points. The winner on board one would be the clear tournament winner and clinch the $12,000 first prize.

However, this game was also drawn. Howell won a pawn and came very close, but Fedoseev got strong counterplay and found a repetition of moves.

2015 Dubai Open | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings here.)

Best on tiebreak was GM Dragan Solak and so the Serbian grandmaster, who represents Turkey, won the Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup.

On the rest day a blitz tournament was held, and won by Cuban GM Walter Arencibia. According to the official website, the 1986 World Junior Chess Champion is currently in the UAE on a chess coaching job.