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Dubai Open Chess takes off

Dubai - Strong field of highly rated players gather at Mamzar

A strong field of highly rated players have gathered in the city for the Dubai Open Chess Championships at the Dubai Chess Club in Mamzar.
Among the top rated performers will be 46 Grandmasters, eight Woman Grandmasters, 39 International Masters, five Woman International Masters, 22 Fide Masters and two Woman Fide Masters, who began first round battles, Monday night.
A record 189 players from 37 countries are competing in the 9-round Swiss System tournament, where the top prize is $13,000 out of a total of $50,000 in cash prizes up for grabs for players placed in the top 15, in addition to the special prizes for the best performer in each category.
Bulgarian GM Ivan Cheparinov is the top seed with a Fide rating of 2695. The Dubai Open boasts 24 grandmasters rated over 2,600, namely Ukrainians Anton Korobov and Yuriy Kuzubov; Armenians Gabriel Sargissian, Vladimir Akopian and Zaven Andriasian; Cuban Batista Laazaro Bruzon, David Howell and Gawain Jones of England; Georgians Baadur Jobava and Mikheil Mchedlishvili; Indians B. Adhiban, S.P. Sethuraman, Santosh Gujrathi Vicit and Chanda Sandipan; Igor Kovalenko of Latvia; Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan; Bassem Amin (Egypt); Ivan Sokolov (Netherlands); Sandro Mareco (Argentina); Alexander Fier (Brazil); David Anton Gujarro (Spain); Boris Savchenko (Russia) and local hero Salem A. R. Saleh of the UAE.
Games are scheduled from 5:30pm daily with two games on Saturday that will be broadcast live on www.dubaichess.ae, site of the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.