Ten players remain tied for the lead after third round

Vidit forced Praggnanandhaa to resign after 43rd round

 
Ten players remain tied for the lead after third round of the $50,000 Dubai Open Chess Championship at the Dubai Chess Club.
GMsVidit Santosh Gujrathi, 23, of Nashik, India, Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli of Venezuela, Sandro Mareco and Alan Pichot of Argentina, Mustafa Yilmaz and Emre Can of Turkey, Ahmed Adly of Egypt, Alexandr Fier of Brazil, Mikhail Antipov of Russia and IM Jaime Santos Latasa of Spain share the lead with three points after as many rounds.
Vidit used the Anti-Marshall System in a Closed Ruy Lopez agains compatriot R. Praggnanandhaa, who initiated a kingside attack. Vidit defended accurately and won a piece to force resignation on the 43rd move. Iturrizaga essayed the Catalan opening to beat Chakkravarthy Deepan of India in only 21 moves. Mareco smashed the Dutch Defense of Viani D'cunha Antonio in 39 moves. Pichot beat Gawain Jones of England in 50 moves of a Ruy Lopez game.

Yilmaz outmaneuvered the King's Indian defense of Abdelrahman Hesham of Egypt in 42 moves. Emre Can followed suit by beating the Slav Defense of Tijana Blagojevic of Montenegro in 41 moves. Former world junior champion Ahmed Adly of Egypt used the English opening to beat Karen Grigoryan of Turkmenistan in 38 moves.
Fier crushed the Caro Kann defense of Vladimir Akopian of Armenia in 42 moves. Antipov turned back the English Opening of IM Oliver Dimakiling of the Philippines. Santos Latasa turned back D. Gukesh of India in 57 moves of a Scotch Four Knights game.
Twenty eight players are tied with 2.5 points each followed by 48 players with 2 points each.
A record 150 players from 40 countries are competing in the 9 round Swiss. The biggest delegation is from India with 91 players followed by Turkmenistan with 14 players, 9 from the UAE and 8 from Azerbaijan. Among the women, 6 Women Grandmasters and 6 Women International masters and 11 Woman FIDE masters are seeing action.
The tournament is held under the Patronage of Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. At stake is a total of $50,000 in cash prizes. Games are scheduled 5:30 pm daily except on Friday. Two rounds are scheduled on Saturday at 10am and 6pm. Visit chess-results.com for pairings, results and standings.