Romain Edouard wins Dubai Chess Open 2014

Hello everyone,

Romain Edouard (right) and Anton Korobov of Ukraine in the final round of the 16th Dubai Open Chess Championship on April 15, 2014. Looking on are Dubai Chess Club Mohammad Husseini of Egypt (right) and Deputy Chief Arbiter IA Naji Mohamad Al Radhi of the UAE.

Dubai: French Grandmaster (GM) Romain Edouard, 23, defeated top seed GM Anton Korobov of Ukraine on Tuesday to win the 16th Dubai Open Chess Championship alone in first place, undefeated with an impressive 8 points out of 9 rounds.

Edouard won the Shaikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup and the top cash prize of $10,000 in the event organised by the Dubai Chess Club in Dubai, UAE.

The Frenchman played the Black side of a Queen’s Pawn game and sacrificed the exchange of a Rook for Knight on the 30th move to expose his opponent’s castled King. Faced with a mating net, Korobov resigned two moves later.

Erstwhile leader GM Abhijeet Gupta of India lost to GM Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela. Gupta used the Gruenfeld defense but was squeezed in as Iturrizaga maintained the initiative of the White pieces and controlled the center files.

Gupta was forced to exchange Queens on the 22nd move and lost two pawns which proved crucial in the endgame where he resigned on the 51st move. The win gave Iturrizaga a total of 7 points and a share of 2nd and 3rd places.

Grandmaster Yuriy Kozubov of Ukraine extracted revenge against Russian GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov to finish in a tie Iturrizaga at 7 points each. Kuzubov crushed the Modern Defense of Rakhmanov in 58 moves. The Ukrainian created passed pawns on both wings and managed to promote his pawn to a Queen when the Russian resigned on the 58th move.

Gupta finished in a tie for 4th to 9th places at 6.5 points each together with GMs Zaven Andriasian and Tigran L. Petrosian of Armenia, Hrvoje Stevic of Croatia, Andrei Istratescu of France and Gawai Jones of England.

Andriasian beat GM Anuar Ismagambetov of Kazakhstan, Petrosian outplayed IM Ebrahim Ahmadinia of Iran, Stevic and Jones drew with each other while Istratescu won over Pontus Carlsson of Sweden.

Nineteen other players trail with 6 points each to share in the spoils of the $50,000 total prize fund, namely Korobov Anton of Ukraine, Rakhmanov Aleksandr or Russia, Akopian Vladimir of Armenia, Kotsur Pavel and Petr Kostenko of Kazakhstan, Balogh Csaba of Hungary, Rahman Ziaur of Bangladesh, Brkic Ante and Jankovic Alojzije of Croatia, Ghaem Maghami Ehsan of Iran, Solak Dragan of Turkey, Shyam Sundar and Babu Lalith of India, Bogner Sebastian and IM Nico Georgiadis of Switzerland, Amin Bassem of Egypt, Iordachescu Viorel of Moldova, Mchedlishvili Mikheil of Georgia, Stojanovic Mihajlo of Serbia.

A total of 148 players from 39 countries participated in the 16th Dubai Open Chess Championship including 38 GMs and 8 WGMs, 16 IMs, 3 WIMs, 10 FMs and 5 WFMs.

Since its inception in 1999, the Dubai Open has been considered one of the major Swiss open tournaments in the chess world. Top boards were broadcast live on the Dubai Chess Club web site where viewers may download games and photos and find links to round by round video coverage on Youtube. Visit chess-results.com for results and final standings. (Report via GulfNews.com)

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

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Geneva Chess Masters: Kosteniuk beats Edouard 2-0 Video Comments by Almira Skripchenko

12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Chess Daily News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone, 

The first edition of the 8-player Geneva Chess Masters was incredibly strong. The tournament was a great success, and provided very exciting matches, which saw the final win of Shakhryar Mamedyarov over Vladimir Kramnik. Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk created a sensation when she beat 2-0 reigning French champion Romain Edouard rated almost 200 points higher. 

Try to find the move the 12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk played to win this game vs. Edouard. When you're ready, watch the YouTube video at chessqueen.com. The video has been commented by former European Women's Champion and a poker professional Grandmaster Almira Skripchenko.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

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Geneva Chess Masters 2013 Begins June 26: Watch Top Stars Nakamura, Kramnik, Kosteniuk, Polgar, Mamedyarov, Pelletier, Bacrot, Edouard in Action

12th Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Latest Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone, 

The Geneva Chess Masters Festival 2013 is taking place from June 26-30 at the Pitoeff Theater, a renovated cathedral in the centre of Geneva. The main event will be the highlight of the big chess festival that includes two open chess tournaments and several age-group event for players U-10, U-12 and U-14.

The main event - a rapid masters - will witness in action (two groups of four each in the single-round robin format) former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, former US champion Hikaru Nakamura, top-rated woman player Judit Polgar, former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Etienne Bacrot, Yannick Pelletier and Romain Edouard. Each group will have the top two players advance to the semi-finals.

Every match between 2 players consists of 2 games of 25 minutes + 10 seconds; if it’s necessary a tie-break of two games of 4 minutes + 2 seconds will be played; in case of a tie, a decisive game with 4 minutes + 2 seconds for white and 3 minutes + 2 seconds for black (with draw odds) will be necessary. Access the official website of the Geneva Chess Masters here.

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Four-Nations Chess League: Guildford 1 Wins Title with Fressinet, Short, Edouard, Jones, Saddler, Kampen, Stefanova

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

Guildford 1 won the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) on Monday finishing on 13 points out of 7 matches. The team, which had e.g. Laurent Fressinet, Nigel Short, Romain Edouard, Gawain Jones, Matthew Sadler, Robin van Kampen and Antoaneta Stefanova playing this year, scored one match point more than Wood Green Hilsmark 1 (with e.g. Vassily Ivanchuk, Michael Adams, Alexei Shirov and Luke McShane), according to a ChessVibes report.

The Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) is a team tournament (league) over three divisions in the UK. Over 850 players are taking part and there's over £10,000 in cash prizes on offer. It is held at different venues over various weekends. The first eight rounds were played over four weekends, and the final three rounds took place last Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Like the German Bundesliga, the 4NCL is a company and not connected to an official body. Different from the Bundesliga and other leagues is that each team must have at least one female player.

For the final, decisive weekend some teams flew in a few really strong players. Especially reigning champion Wood Green's line-up was impressive: in the last three rounds Vassily Ivanchuk, Michael Adams, Alexei Shirov, Luke McShane, David Howell, Jonathan Rowson, Pia Cramling, Alexander Baburin, John Emms, Andrew Greet and Nicholas Pert all played at least one game.

But it was not enough. Instead, Guildford 1 took the title, playing with Laurent Fressinet, Gawain Jones, Romain Edouard, Nigel Short, Matthew Sadler, Robin van Kampen, Antoaneta Stefanova, Mark Hebden and Stuart Conquest.

Guildford had won all of their matches and they went into the final weekend a point ahead of Wood Green, who dropped a match point on February 23rd in their match with Cheddleton 1. All games ended in draws there.

Last Saturday, both Guildford and Wood Green won their matches. Wood Green's Michael Adams, who played his last game in the Alekhine Memorial in St Petersburg only three days before, slowly outplayed Peter Wells in a double rook endgame.

However, everything came down to the final round, in which the big clash would decide everything. 4-4 was enough for Guildford, and that's what happened! At some point the score was 3.5-3.5 and David Howell needed to win against Nigel Short for the title. In the end the former World Championship Candidate held the draw, and thus secured the championship for his team. Read the complete report and games here.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
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French Chess Champions 2012 Title Jointly to Vachier-Lagrave, Bauer, Bacrot, Edouard

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012


Hi everyone,

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Christian Bauer, Etienne Bacrot, and Romain Edouard have been declared the joint winners of the French National Chess Championship 2012.

Vachier-Lagrave, Bacrot, and Edouard, as a mark of respect and show of humane spirit, decided to not play the tiebreak, but share the French national chess title with the fourth joint leader, Christian Bauer. GM Bauer tragically lost his four-month-old son and abandoned the tournament before the last round. The last round was cancelled and the three remaining joint leaders were to play the tiebreak. However, they all agreed to share the title in a show of humane spirit and sportsmanship.

The French Chess Federation had earlier announced the tiebreak for Saturday, but cancelled it after the players' statements. 

Also read: Almira Skripchenko is French National Chess Champion for the Fifth Time!

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
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Edouard wins inventi Chess Open, Timman second

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011


Hello everyone,


The latest chess news from www.chessvibes.com is that Romain Edouard has won the Inventi GM Tournament in Antwerp, Belgium on Sunday. The French grandmaster finished on 7/9, half a point more than the legendary Jan Timman who was the only player to stay undefeated. The 6th InventiChess tournament took place September 3-11 in the office space of the sponsor in Antwerp, Belgium.

 The legendary Grandmaster Jan Timman

Inventi, a sales and management consultancy company, has a strong link with chess in Belgium. In July they were the main sponsor of the Belgian Championships for the second time, and last week they sponsored their own main tournament for the sixth time.


They are approaching chess sponsorship in quite a unique way with what they call 'CEO-InventiChess': four times a year 'CEO Chess' events are organised, where CEOs meet each other to play some chess, enjoy a nice dinner and thereby have lots of chances to network in a pleasant environment.


The main tournament was a 10-player round robin (FIDE category IX) and the rate of play was 40 moves in 90 minutes plus 30 minutes to finish the game, with 30 seconds increment from move 1. There were three ladies: GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant and IMs Anastasia Savina and Elisabeth Paehtz. Against the latter, Van der Wiel drew in the second round and then he said: "Ouch, I really have to fight to avoid losing against these ladies, this was very different 20-30 years ago."


Incidentally, 20-year-old Romain Edouard was the only player rated higher than 2600, and indeed finished clear first. He started strongly with four out of four and was already a full point ahead of Timman, but in the next round the legendary Dutchman defeated the French GM to catch him in the standings.

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From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

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