Ni Hua first on tiebreak in Dubai

Ni Hua of China finished first on tiebreak at the Dubai Open. The 28-year-old grandmaster from Shanghai finished shared first, together with Georgians Baadur Jobava & Mikheil Mchedlishvili as well as Normunds Miezis of Latvia and Chanda Sandipan of India.

Ni Hua wins the 14th Dubai Open | All photos courtesy of the official website

See also our first report: Akopian & Ni Hua lead in Dubai

Tournament leaders Vladimir Akopian and Ni Hua, who both scored 4.5/5, drew their mutual game on Saturday morning quickly. This allowed four players to join them in the lead: the three Indians Abhijeet Gupta, Parimarjan Negi and Chanda Sandipan and also Normunds Miezis of Latvia and Evgeny Miroshnichenko of Ukraine. Gupta won amazingly quickly with an exchance sacrifice, just after the game, a Bogo-Indian, had left theory:

[Event "14th Dubai Open 2012"]
[Site "Dubai UAE"]
[Date "2012.04.21"]
[Round "6.4"]
[White "Gupta, Abhijeet"]
[Black "Amin, Bassem"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2643"]
[BlackElo "2608"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2012.04.15"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Qe7 5. g3 Nc6 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Bg2 d6 8. O-O
Bxc3 9. Bxc3 Ne4 10. Rc1 Nxc3 11. Rxc3 e5 12. d5 Nb8 13. Nd2 a5 14. c5 Na6 15.
cxd6 cxd6 16. Nc4 Qd8 17. Qb3 Nc5 18. Qb6 Na4 $146 (18... Ra6 19. Qxd8 Rxd8 20.
Nxd6 Na4 21. Rxc8 Raxd6 22. Rc7 b6 23. f4 e4 24. Bxe4 Nxb2 25. Bf3 {Schreiner,
P (2350)-Aschenbrenner,R (2270)/Austria 2011}) 19. Qxd6 Nxc3 20. bxc3 Qxd6 21.
Nxd6 f6 22. c4 b6 23. Rb1 Ra6 24. Nxc8 Rxc8 25. d6 Rd8 26. Bb7 Ra7 27. Bd5+ 1-0

Later that day the 7th round was also played. Latvian Miezis, who has huge Weekender tournament experience, was the only grandmaster (out of seven) who managed to win (and thus score 2/2 that day).

[Event "14th Dubai Open 2012"]
[Site "Dubai UAE"]
[Date "2012.04.21"]
[Round "7.4"]
[White "Miezis, Normunds"]
[Black "Iordachescu, Viorel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B10"]
[WhiteElo "2557"]
[BlackElo "2644"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/5pk1/pq3np1/3p4/1r1P2P1/5P2/1P1QRNK1/8 w - - 0 39"]
[PlyCount "15"]
[EventDate "2012.04.15"]

{Having been slightly worse for most of the game, White will now lose a pawn.}
39. Nd3 $1 {The best way to give it up.} Rxd4 40. Qe3 {The pin is quite
annoying.} Nd7 41. b3 a5 $6 ({Black should play} 41... Nf8 {here.}) 42. g5 $1 (
{After the immediate} 42. Ne5 Nxe5 43. Qxe5+ {Black still has} Qf6) 42... a4 $2
{Completely missing White's idea.} 43. Ne5 $1 {This already wins the exchange
by force.} Rb4 (43... Nf8 44. Nc6 $1 {is the problem.}) 44. Nxd7 Qxe3 45. Rxe3
axb3 46. Re8 $1 1-0

Normunds Miezis (Latvia)

Dutchman Loek van Wely had started disappointingly but fought himself back to the higher ranks. He handled the black side of a Velimirovic Attack pretty well:

[Event "14th Dubai Open 2012"]
[Site "Dubai UAE"]
[Date "2012.04.21"]
[Round "7.12"]
[White "Petrosian, Davit G"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B45"]
[WhiteElo "2463"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2012.04.15"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be3 a6 7. Bc4 Nf6 8. Qe2
Qc7 9. O-O-O Be7 10. Bb3 O-O 11. Rhg1 Na5 12. g4 b5 13. g5 Nxb3+ 14. axb3 Nd7
15. Nf5 exf5 16. Nd5 Qd8 17. exf5 Re8 18. Qf3 Rb8 19. g6 fxg6 20. fxg6 hxg6 21.
Nf4 Ne5 22. Qd5+ Kh7 23. Rxg6 Bf6 24. Rg3 Bf5 25. Nh5 Rc8 26. c3 b4 27. Rdg1
bxc3 28. Nxf6+ Qxf6 29. Rxg7+ Kh8 30. bxc3 Rxc3+ 31. Kb2 Nc4+ 0-1

In round 8 Miezis drew with Black against Gupta and only one player joined him in the lead: Chanda Sandipan.

[Event "14th Dubai Open 2012"]
[Site "Dubai UAE"]
[Date "2012.04.22"]
[Round "8.3"]
[White "Sandipan, Chanda"]
[Black "Negi, Parimarjan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2595"]
[BlackElo "2639"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2012.04.15"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nbd2 Bg7 4. e4 O-O 5. e5 Nh5 6. g4 Nf4 7. Ne4 Nd5 8. c4
Nb4 9. Qb3 d5 10. Neg5 c5 11. dxc5 N8c6 12. Bd2 a5 13. cxd5 a4 14. Qc4 Qxd5 15.
Qxd5 Nxd5 16. h3 a3 17. Bc4 axb2 18. Rb1 Rd8 19. Rxb2 h6 20. Ne4 Ra4 21. Rc2
Ndb4 22. Bxb4 Rxb4 23. Ned2 Nxe5 24. Nxe5 Bxe5 25. Nb3 h5 26. f3 Bd7 27. Kf2
hxg4 28. hxg4 Bc6 29. Re1 Bf6 30. Kg3 Ra4 31. f4 e6 32. Ree2 Rd1 33. g5 Be7 34.
Kf2 Rh1 35. Red2 Kg7 36. Ke3 Rh3+ 37. Ke2 e5 38. Bd5 Bb5+ 39. Ke1 Rxf4 40. Rf2
Rh1+ 41. Bxh1 Rg4 42. Bxb7 Bd3 43. Bd5 f5 44. gxf6+ Bxf6 45. Rg2 Rf4 46. c6 e4
47. Nc5 Rf1+ 48. Kd2 Bg5+ 49. Rxg5 Rf2+ 50. Ke3 1-0

The following game was a sharp affair:

[Event "14th Dubai Open 2012"]
[Site "Dubai UAE"]
[Date "2012.04.22"]
[Round "8.8"]
[White "Hovhannisyan, Robert"]
[Black "Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C63"]
[WhiteElo "2600"]
[BlackElo "2643"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2012.04.15"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. d3 fxe4 5. dxe4 Nf6 6. O-O d6 7. Bc4 Bg4 8. h3
Bh5 9. Nc3 Qd7 10. Be3 Be7 11. a4 a6 12. Re1 Nb4 13. g4 Bxg4 14. hxg4 Qxg4+ 15.
Kf1 Nxc2 16. Qxc2 Qxf3 17. Qd1 Qh3+ 18. Ke2 c6 19. Qb3 d5 20. exd5 Qg4+ 21. Kd2
cxd5 22. Qxb7 Qxc4 23. Qxa8+ Kf7 24. Qxh8 Ne4+ 25. Kc2 Nxc3 26. bxc3 Bb4 27.
Bd4 1-0

The last round was played on Monday, with a lot of players still in contention for big money prizes. Miezis and Sandipan both played carefully and drew their game on board 1 after 30 moves. Baadur Jobava waved a mating net in an ending:

[Event "14th Dubai Open 2012"]
[Site "Dubai UAE"]
[Date "2012.04.23"]
[Round "9.2"]
[White "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"]
[Black "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E91"]
[WhiteElo "2633"]
[BlackElo "2706"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/1p2k3/2p1n3/2b1PK2/Pr6/8/4N3/3R1B2 w - - 0 49"]
[PlyCount "4"]
[EventDate "2012.04.15"]

49. a5 $2 Kf7 $1 50. Bg2 (50. Rd7+ Be7 {threatens mate in one - the same idea.}
) 50... Ng7+ 0-1

Mchedlishvili emerged as the winner against Van Wely, who also played for a win with a Benoni.

[Event "14th Dubai Open 2012"]
[Site "Dubai UAE"]
[Date "2012.04.23"]
[Round "9.3"]
[White "Mchedlishvili, Mikheil"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2626"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2012.04.15"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 c5 5. d5 O-O 6. Nc3 d6 7. Nf3 e6 8. O-O
exd5 9. cxd5 Re8 10. Bf4 a6 11. a4 Qc7 12. Rc1 Nbd7 13. b4 b6 14. h3 Bb7 15.
Re1 h6 16. bxc5 bxc5 17. e4 g5 18. Bd2 Re7 19. h4 g4 20. Nh2 Ne5 21. Bf4 Bc8
22. Nf1 Nh5 23. Bxe5 Bxe5 24. Ne3 Nf6 25. Nc4 Rb8 26. Qd2 Kg7 27. Ne2 a5 28.
Nf4 Ba6 29. Ne3 Bc8 30. Nd3 Bd4 31. Nc2 Be5 32. Ne3 Bd4 33. Nc4 Ba6 34. e5 Ne8
35. Re4 Qd7 36. e6 fxe6 37. Rxg4+ Kf8 38. Qxh6+ Bg7 39. Qg6 e5 40. Rg5 Nf6 41.
Rf5 Rf7 42. Ncxe5 dxe5 43. Nxc5 Qd6 44. Ne6+ Ke7 45. Nxg7 Bd3 46. Rc6 1-0

Ni Hua defeated Kuzubov and became one of many to finish on shared first place.

[Event "14th Dubai Open 2012"]
[Site "Dubai UAE"]
[Date "2012.04.23"]
[Round "9.7"]
[White "Ni, Hua"]
[Black "Kuzubov, Yuriy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B53"]
[WhiteElo "2637"]
[BlackElo "2615"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2012.04.15"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Qd3 Nf6 7. c4 g6 8. Nc3
Bg7 9. O-O O-O 10. h3 a6 11. Bxc6 Bxc6 12. Nd4 Rc8 13. Re1 Nd7 14. b3 Nc5 15.
Qe3 Ne6 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Bb2 Qa5 18. Re2 Bd7 19. Nd1 Qc5 20. Bxg7 Qxe3 21.
Nxe3 Kxg7 22. e5 d5 23. cxd5 exd5 24. Nxd5 Be6 25. Rd1 Rc5 26. Red2 Kf7 27. f4
Ke8 28. Nb4 a5 29. Nd3 Rc3 30. g4 Kf7 31. Rc1 Rfc8 32. Rxc3 Rxc3 33. Nf2 h6 34.
Kg2 b5 35. Nd1 Rc5 36. Ne3 Ke8 37. Rc2 Rxc2+ 38. Nxc2 b4 39. Kf3 Bd5+ 40. Ke3
Bg2 41. h4 Bh3 42. Kd4 Bxg4 43. Kc5 Kf7 44. Nd4 g5 45. fxg5 hxg5 46. hxg5 Kg6
47. Kb6 Kxg5 48. Kxa5 Kf4 49. Nc6 Bd7 50. Nxe7 Kxe5 51. Kxb4 Ke6 52. Ng6 Kf5
53. Nf8 Be8 54. Kc5 Bf7 55. Nd7 Ke4 56. Nb6 Kd3 57. Kb4 Kc2 58. Nc4 Be6 59. a4
Bc8 60. a5 Ba6 61. Nd6 Kd3 62. Nb5 1-0

The 28-year-old Chinese grandmaster edged out Jobava, Mchedlishvili, Miezis and Chanda on tiebreak.

The 14th Dubai Open, also called the Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup, was held in the Dubai Chess & Culture Club. The tournament was named after the Deputy Ruler of Dubai and the Minister of Finance and Industry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The total prize fund was US $50,000, with a first prize of US $10,000. We presume that the five GMs shared the total amount of the first five prizes combined. 

14th Dubai Open | Final standings (top 40)

See also our first report: Akopian & Ni Hua lead in Dubai