Dubai Open 3 to 11 April 2017

[Mick Norris]

Gawain appears to be joint 4th seed with Anton Guijarro, behind Korobov, Areshchenko and Safarli

website

[Chris Rice]

Pairings are up for the first round (the usual top half vs bottom half they always use) and Gawain is Black against Gaurav Kumar (2172).

[Tim Harding]

I hope Gawain has enjoyed a few days holiday since Sharjah; he's a busy man.
If he can recover his form from the early rounds he could win this one.

A week after Dubai, he (and his wife Sue) are on the list for Reykjavik (starts 19 April) and I look forward to seeing him in action there.

Is Dubai the tournament where they adjourn the games for a prayer break at 6pm?

[Mick Norris]

Games appear to start at 3:30 pm, UK time today; then an hour earlier Tue/Wed/Thu; rest day Friday (Blitz event)

Double round Sat

[Chris Rice]

Is Dubai the tournament where they adjourn the games for a prayer break at 6pm?

Yes this is the one. Tonight there will be a break for Maghrib prayer at 6.38pm I believe and those that are involved will take their sandals off and pray for about 10 minutes. At the end of the prayers they go in the bathroom and wash their feet in the sink. Those that are not praying mill around the foyer, chatting, smoking, thinking about their positions etc. Couple of years ago I watched Wenjun Ju deep in concentration bouncing off the walls. Clearly there is scope for cheating and I don't say that lightly as this tournament has had more than its fair share of it. While I was working in Dubai it was the only convenient tournament for me but I never liked it particularly for the pairing system where I often was playing opponents 200-400 points either side of me and the prayer break which as I've commented in previous years, was often abused. I spoke to Gawain about the tournament a few years ago and he liked it for the strength of the tournament but wasn't particularly pleased with the conditions he got. Hope that's improved for him anyway.

[Tim Harding]

Thanks for the detailed reply, Chris.

Either they are late starting or the live boards are not functioning (it's now about 4.10pm BST).

AH, I just saw 1 h4 on board 36... Testing?

A few minutes later: Gawain on the black side of a Scotch for a change.
Board 36 has been corrected to 1 e4.

[Chris Rice]

The first round is always up to an hour late starting Tim. This is usually due to the players having to wait for minor members of the ruling family to turn up and speeches to be made. We were never told what exactly was going on while we waited so it could be really frustrating. A number of times the first round started so late that after a few minutes play we hit the prayer break. Fortunately the subsequent rounds normally start on time.

[Paul Dargan]

I think the prayer break has gone Chris - no sign of it last year. conditions had improved a lot last year - and they're back in the same hotel (JW MArriott in Deira) much better than some of the dives in Deira. It's actually one of my favourite hotels that side of town - maybe I'm biased because I lived in it for a year...

[Chris Rice]

I think the prayer break has gone Chris - no sign of it last year. conditions had improved a lot last year - and they're back in the same hotel (JW MArriott in Deira) much better than some of the dives in Deira. It's actually one of my favourite hotels that side of town - maybe I'm biased because I lived in it for a year...

Thanks for letting me know Paul, I haven't played there since 2015. That was a pretty spectacular chess club they used to play in I'm surprised they moved. Glad they got rid of the prayer break, if they would only dump the pairing system as well! However, having said that, I note that in this years first round after 27 moves Korobov (2695) is losing to Abbasov (2211) https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tourn ... 2017/1/1/1

[Roger de Coverly]

if they would only dump the pairing system as well!

Aren't they using standard Swiss pairings with their usual bouncing effect in tournaments that are both large and with a wide spread between top and bottom ratings?

[Chris Rice]

if they would only dump the pairing system as well!

Aren't they using standard Swiss pairings with their usual bouncing effect in tournaments that are both large and with a wide spread between top and bottom ratings?

Yes the rd 1 pairings have vast rating differences. It was not unusual for me to be paired with a 2500+ in one round and then a 1500 in the next so I didn't get a lot of meaningful games and when you are only playing one tournament a year that could be pretty depressing.

[Roger de Coverly]

It was not unusual for me to be paired with a 2500+ in one round and then a 1500 in the next so I didn't get a lot of meaningful games and when you are only playing one tournament a year that could be pretty depressing.

Acceleration can postpone that effect, but not eliminate it. The only solution, as frequently seen in the UK and sometimes elsewhere in Europe, is to divide the tournament into two or more parts by rating.

[Chris Rice]

The only solution, as frequently seen in the UK and sometimes elsewhere in Europe, is to divide the tournament into two or more parts by rating.

I think the organisers didn't want to do that otherwise the locals, particularly the juniors, who are usually rated very low, would never get a chance to either play the top players or even get their ratings up. Their are a number of tournaments in the other emirates such as Abu Dhabi and Al Ain where you'll find few local people rated over 1800 but they are pretty good and and if you're not careful, as a friend of mine who was also working over there, John Bennett wasn't, you could lose a bundle of Elo.

Gawain has just won, first rounds are always tricky as top seed Korobov found as he did indeed lose to Abbasov.

[Mick Norris]

round 2 pairings

4 5 GM Akopian Vladimir 2675 1 1 IM D`costa Lorin A R 2390 62

6 7 GM Jones Gawain C B 2671 1 1 IM Rathnakaran K. 2383 64

[Chris Rice]

Oh dear, thanks Mick, hadn't spotted Lorin in the pairings. Went back to check and there are another two English players, firstly Sue who hopefully should notch a point today:

73 122 WIM Maroroa Sue 2148 0 0 Tejaswini Reddy S. 1889 177

Secondly, Gurveen Kapoor who is a new name to me. I see from the ECF grading database he's a 12 year old from around the Berkshire area so perhaps Roger knows of him? After we've been singing the praises of Praggnanandhaa and Abdusattorov it's nice to see we have a junior playing in an international like this. With a rating of ECF 149 and Elo 1666 he's clearly not in their class but they are very good ratings for someone of his age so good luck to him today:

99 206 Kapoor Gurveen 1666 0 0 Panesar Vedant 2036