Dubai Open Chess: Arjun wins, Praggnanandhaa loses in fifth round

Arjun Erigaisi defeated Mahammad Muradli in just 20 moves. | Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ

An oversight cost R. Praggnanandhaa his game against joint leader Rinat Jumabayev after Arjun Erigaisi benefited from a similar error of judgement from Mahammad Muradli in an action-packed fifth round of the Dubai Open chess tournament in Dubai on Wednesday.

On a day when 14 of the top 15 boards, including the first 13, produced decisive results, Jumabayev remained the only leader with five points.

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Arjun won in just 20 moves before being joined at 4.5 points by Ayush Sharma, top seed Alexandr Predke and Vladimir Akopian. Ayush, rated a modest 2158, stunned sixth seeded German Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, rated 2644, to complete a hat-trick of triumphs over Grandmasters. In the previous rounds, this youngster from Madhya Pradesh, shocked M. S. Thej Kumar (2430) and Arjun Kalyan (2513).

After five rounds, Ayush is gaining 59 rating points.

Vantika Agrawal, who led India 2 in the recent Olympiad, stunned fifth seeded Argentine Sandro Mareco (2657) to post her biggest victory and reached 3.5 points.

Leading results - fifth round (Indians unless stated)

Rinat Jumabayev (Kaz, 5) bt R. Praggnanandhaa (4); 

Alexandr Predke (FIDE, 4.5) bt Aleksandar Indjic (Srb, 3.5); 

Arjun Erigaisi (4.5) bt Mahammad Muradli (Aze, 3.5);

Vladimir Akopian (USA, 4.5) bt S. P. Sethuraman (3.5);

Ayush Sharma (4.5) bt Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Ger, 3);

Amin Tabatabaei (Iri, 4) bt Sandipan Chanda (3);

Abhijeet Gupta (4) bt Julien Song (Fra, 3);

Shaikh Mohammad Nubairshah (3) lost to Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (Arm, 4);

L. R. Srihari (3) lost to Raunak Sadhwani (4);

Aravindh Chithambaram (4) bt Arad Nazari (Iri, 3);

Aram Hakobyan (Arm, 4) bt Syed Kian Poormosavi (Iri, 3);

Aditya Samant (3) lost to Harsha Bharathakoti (4).