Korobov hot in Abu Dhabi

Another success this summer for Anton Korobov, this time in Abu Dhabi (UAE) from the 12th to the 20th of August 2010 where he finished ahead of 25 other players on 6.5/9.
His opponent in the photo was the highest-placed non-GM Mohseb Sharbaf.

The Gulf states have become more present in the chess world in recent years. The first notable venture was the Dubai Olympiad in 1986, but since then serious training programs have led to a general improvement in the strength throughout the region. Strong open tournaments in Dubai and Abu Dhabi give the local players a chance to compete against visiting GMs.

Titled players in the region:

Ranking	Nation	GMs	IMs	WGMs
46	Iran	5	10	2
73	Iraq	0	5	0
83	UAE	2	4	0
86	Yemen	0	3	0
132*	Qatar	3	1	0
139	Bahrain	0	0	0

Qatar's world ranking is rather meaningless as they have three GMs (one of them being female Zhu Chen), but lack a sufficient number of active Elo-rated players for their country to have an appropriately high-ranking.

In the Ramadan Masters Open in Abu Dhabi (26 players in a 9 Round Swiss) the favourite Anton Korobov took clear first place with 6.5/9. Another success for this young Ukrainian who is definitely making a name for himself at the moment. How long will it be before the Ukraine can boast yet another 2700 player?

There were ten grandmasters, and a nice mix of nationalities, present in this classical time limit open (90 minutes plus an increment of 30 seconds for all moves, is slightly faster than most but still qualifies for this category).

Final results:

1	GM Anton Korobov	UKR	2657	6,5
2	GM Zurab Sturua	GEO	2512	6,0
3	GM Sarhan Guliev	AZE	2485	6,0
4	GM Ashot Anastasian	ARM	2578	5,5
5	GM Avetik Grigoryan	ARM	2584	5,5
6	FM Mohsen Sharbaf	IRI	2370	5,5
7	GM Basem Amin	EGY	2568	5,5
8	GM Gadir Guseinov	AZE	2611	5,5
9	FM Jasem Alhuwar	UAE	2311	5
10	IM Narayanan Srinath	IND	2409	5
11	GM Arun Prasad S	IND	2535	5
12	GM Vadim Malakhatko	BEL	2576	5

Note the presence of the Iranian (Mohsen Sharbaf) and United Arab Emirates (Jasem Alhuwar) FMs getting up amongst the big stars.

One of the world's fastest growing cities.

Abu Dhabi is now well known as a major sporting venue as well as one of the most dynamic cities in the Arab world.

This Persian Gulf city has grown dramatically in recent years despite being on the edge of a desert.

For more information concerning the event go to the Official site