Dubai: Grandmaster (GM) Gawain Jones of the UK ruled the Dubai Open Blitz Chess Tournament 2018 on Friday at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club, reclaiming the title he won in 2016.
Trailing by half a point going into the final round, Jones zoomed to the top spot when he defeated the erstwhile solo leader International Master (IM) Amin Tabatabaei of Iran — albeit in an anticlimactic fashion when Tabatabaei inexplicably walked into a simple trap on the 18th move that would lose a piece in their Sicilian Dragon game.
Tabatabaei, who had been blitzing out his moves, sank in his seat in disbelief upon realising the gravity of his blunder before extending his hand in resignation.
The win moved Jones to 7.5 points, while Tabatabaei dropped to third place with seven points.
GM Salem A.R. Saleh of the UAE, winner over India’s IM P. Karthikeyan in the final round, also posted seven points and had a much better tiebreak to secure second place.
GM Vladislav Kovalev of Belarus had a chance to share first place, but he could only manage a draw with Iran’s GM Parham Maghsoodloo to also finish with seven points and fourth overall after tiebreaks.
Venezuela’s GM Eduardo Iturrizaga, who won over India’s GM Prasanna Vishnu, had the lowest tiebreak score among seven-pointers to place fifth. Maghsoodloo was sixth with 6.5 points.
Fide Master (FM) Othman Moussa received the prize for the best UAE player.
After a very strong start with five points in the first six rounds, defending champion GM Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia succumbed to three straight losses to bow out of contention.
More than 70 players from 19 countries took part in the blitz tournament, which served as a side event to the 20th Dubai Open Chess Tournament, where Jones is the two-time defending champion.
