Nigalidze Tops 42 Other GMs At Al Ain Classic
In a field of 151 players where fully two-thirds held FIDE titles and more than one-quarter were grandmasters, 28th-ranked Georgian GM Gaioz Nigalidze topped the Third Annual Al Ain Chess Classic.
The tournament ran from December 19-26 at the Al Ain Rotana Hili Hotel in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Nigalidze's biggest triumphs prior to this were winning back-to-back Georgian Championships in 2013 and 2014 (he has been a grandmaster for less than a year).
Three other players tied with Nigalidze at 7.0/9 but had poorer tiebreaks: Armenian GM Tigran Petrosian, Ukrainian GM Vladimir Onischuk and Belarusian GM Sergei Zhigalko (it was a good time to have a grandmaster doppleganger as Tigran and Vladimir have in the chess world).
Onischuk and Petrosian, at least the ones that were in the UAE, both had a chance to win the event outright going in the last round of the nine-round Swiss.
They faced off on the top board and the choice of the Pirc and subsequent Austrian Attack (one of the most principled replies) paved the way for an exciting game.
Although a queenless middlegame, a Berlin this wasn't. Could Black's bishops overcome his two-pawn deficit?
All games via TWIC.
The cute stalemate put Onischuk and Petrosian in the clubhouse with 7 points and left the door ajar for eight other players who began round nine with 6.0/8. On board two, top-seeded GM Yuriy Kryvoruchko could not beat GM Vidit Santosh Guirathi.
One board lower, Zhigalko spoiled the hopes of another Indian GM, Chanda Sandipan. The game was an Open Spanish -- remember when that used to be popular?
Ukrainian countrymen GM Mikhailo Oleksienko and GM Alexander Areshchenko drew on board four, knocking them both off the winner's podium.
The organizers clearly were not worried about compatriots playing in the final round as a pair of Georgians matched up. Nigalidze and GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili would decide the title way down on board five.
With multiple pawns as targets, the winner had no trouble converting the full point to vault into first place.
Nigalidze (FIDE 2536) gained nearly 30 rating points for his effort. The winner's prize was $11,000 USD.
He was the only one of the four players on 7.0/9 to suffer a loss. The other three players all had five wins and four draws; Nigalidze lost to Petrosian in the penultimate round and had two other draws.
Of course he scored many upset scalps along the way, including wins against Areshchenko (2661), GM Abhijeet Gupta (2632), GM Yuriy Kuzubov (2681) and Mchedlishivili (2625).
He is no stranger to playing the of role of underdog. In Nigalidze's most recent Georgian Championship, he scored 8.5/11 despite being an IM in a round robin of eight GMs.
The game against Areshchenko opened in the topical Samisch Grunfeld. It looked like Black would die a quick death. Instead he was denuded of all his pawns before the time control on move 40 and then hung on for twice that long.
In round five he took advantage of an optimistic attack in an equal position. Eventually Nigalidze proved what little kids figure out on their own -- two queens are better than one.
A day later he won again as Black. This time a creative piece sac in the opening led to three pawns for the piece. Ten moves later, all of White's pieces languished on the back rank and the result was never really in doubt.
Petrosian's Pirc revival was on display again in round seven. He also displayed surgical precision and patience in the knight versus bishop endgame.
In round eight, unlike in round five, Nigalidze's queen and knight combo couldn't overcome queen and bishop. The loss took him off the top board for the first time in the latter half of the event.
Petrosian's win over the leader was not enough as his Pirc only produced a draw with Onischuk in the final round. Nigalidze's tiebreak triumph was deserved; playing from the top board for most of the final rounds meant he led the field on tiebreak points both before and after round nine.
The multicultural field was constituted by 31 Indians, 30 players from the host country, 23 from Azerbaijan and 11 each from Iran and Ukraine. In total, 27 federations were represented.
Here's a look at all players finishing with at least 6 points. Full results are available here.
2014 Al Ain Chess Classic | Final Standings (Top 27)
| Rk. | SNo | Title | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | rtg+/- |
| 1 | 28 | GM | Nigalidze Gaioz | GEO | 2536 | 7 | 51,5 | 40,75 | 2617 | 29,6 |
| 2 | 6 | GM | Petrosian Tigran L. | ARM | 2651 | 7 | 50 | 39 | 2572 | 12,4 |
| 3 | 16 | GM | Onischuk Vladimir | UKR | 2614 | 7 | 49 | 37,25 | 2557 | 15,1 |
| 4 | 3 | GM | Zhigalko Sergei | BLR | 2672 | 7 | 46,5 | 35,75 | 2557 | 8,6 |
| 5 | 1 | GM | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | UKR | 2688 | 6,5 | 52 | 36,5 | 2590 | 5,4 |
| 6 | 4 | GM | Areshchenko Alexander | UKR | 2661 | 6,5 | 45,5 | 33 | 2513 | 0,3 |
| 7 | 10 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet | IND | 2632 | 6,5 | 44,5 | 33,5 | 2454 | -2,2 |
| 8 | 12 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | IND | 2625 | 6,5 | 44,5 | 31,5 | 2521 | 4,8 |
| 9 | 13 | GM | Oleksienko Mikhailo | UKR | 2621 | 6,5 | 44,5 | 31 | 2558 | 9,1 |
| 10 | 21 | GM | Parligras Mircea-Emilian | ROU | 2580 | 6,5 | 42,5 | 32 | 2444 | 2,3 |
| 11 | 22 | GM | Ter-Sahakyan Samvel | ARM | 2580 | 6,5 | 42,5 | 31 | 2413 | -0,4 |
| 12 | 15 | GM | Pashikian Arman | ARM | 2617 | 6,5 | 40 | 31,75 | 2432 | -2,9 |
| 13 | 2 | GM | Kuzubov Yuriy | UKR | 2681 | 6 | 48 | 32 | 2542 | -3,9 |
| 14 | 34 | GM | Grover Sahaj | IND | 2505 | 6 | 46,5 | 31,25 | 2553 | 16,1 |
| 15 | 8 | GM | Shankland Samuel L | USA | 2642 | 6 | 46,5 | 31,25 | 2525 | -1,6 |
| 16 | 33 | GM | Abasov Nijat | AZE | 2509 | 6 | 46 | 30 | 2596 | 20,4 |
| 17 | 18 | GM | Sandipan Chanda | IND | 2599 | 6 | 45,5 | 32 | 2481 | -1 |
| 18 | 23 | GM | Kovchan Alexander | UKR | 2577 | 6 | 45 | 31,5 | 2455 | -1,1 |
| 19 | 19 | GM | Volkov Sergey | RUS | 2599 | 6 | 44,5 | 30,5 | 2476 | -1,6 |
| 20 | 11 | GM | Mchedlishvili Mikheil | GEO | 2625 | 6 | 44 | 30,75 | 2430 | -7,9 |
| 21 | 20 | GM | Gopal G.N. | IND | 2580 | 6 | 43,5 | 29,5 | 2526 | 5,5 |
| 22 | 36 | GM | Ankit R. Rajpara | IND | 2494 | 6 | 43,5 | 29,25 | 2399 | 1,1 |
| 23 | 37 | GM | Bajarani Ulvi | AZE | 2494 | 6 | 43 | 29,5 | 2373 | 0,4 |
| 24 | 30 | GM | Moskalenko Viktor | ESP | 2528 | 6 | 42 | 26,75 | 2378 | -5,3 |
| 25 | 63 | IM | Lodhi Mahmood | PAK | 2328 | 6 | 41 | 26,75 | 2383 | 16,8 |
| 26 | 5 | GM | Mamedov Rauf | AZE | 2658 | 6 | 40,5 | 29 | 2395 | -13,4 |
| 27 | 48 | IM | Petrosyan Manuel | ARM | 2407 | 6 | 39 | 26,75 | 2346 | 6,2 |
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Mike Klein began playing chess at the age of four in Charlotte, NC. In 1986, he lost to Josh Waitzkin at the National Championship featured in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer." A year later, Mike became the youngest member of the very first All-America Chess Team, and was on the team a total of eight times. In 1988, he won the K-3 National Championship, and eventually became North Carolina's youngest-ever master. In 1996, he won clear first for under-2250 players in the top section of the World Open. Mike has taught chess full-time for a dozen years in New York City and Charlotte, with his students and teams winning many national championships. He now works at Chess.com as a Senior Journalist and at ChessKid.com as the Chief Chess Officer. In 2012, 2015, and 2018, he was awarded Chess Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America. He has also previously won other awards from the CJA such as Best Tournament Report, and also several writing awards for mainstream newspapers. His chess writing and personal travels have now brought him to more than 85 countries.
