Can Aditya Mittal win 31st Abu Dhabi Masters?

by Shahid Ahmed - 24/08/2025

GM Denis Lazavik defeated Chongsheng Zeng (CHN) to end his unbeaten streak in the penultimate round of 31st Abu Dhabi Chess Festival 2025 Masters. GM Arkadij Naiditsch (BUL) got the better of GM Haowen Xue (CHN). GM Aditya Mittal played ambitiously and scored a victory over compatriot, GM Bharath Subramaniyam H. Denis, Aditya and Arkadij are now in a three way lead at 6.5/8 each. Denis and Arkadij will clash, Aditya will be up against the two-time Asian Junior champion, GM Aleksey Grebnev who is at 6/8. IM Mayank Chakraborty missed a great opportunity to win against GM Iniyan Pa. Iniyan and GM Prraneeth Vuppala are at 6/8 each. Round 9 starts today at 11 a.m. local time, 12:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Aditya Sur Roy

Iniyan and Prraneeth trail the leaders by a half point

GM Aditya Mittal needs to beat GM Aleksey Grebnev and hope the top board battle between the remaining two leaders - GM Denis Lazavik and GM Arkadij Naiditsch (BUL) ends in a draw. That will make Aditya a clear champion. If all three leaders draw their respective games, tie-breaks will determine the winner of the tournament.

GM Aditya Mittal is in a three-way lead with GM Denis Lazavik and GM Arkadij Naiditsch (BUL)

GM Denis Lazavik defeated GM Chongsheng Zeng (CHN) to get himself in a three-way lead 6.5/8

Aditya - Bharath

Position after 18.h6

GM Aditya Mittal (2560) made his intentions clear early in the game. He went for an all-out attack on the kingside by pushing his pawns while keeping his king on f1. One might think that White's attack stops after 18...g6. They be wrong as he continued 19.Qd4 f6 20.Nd5 Bxd5 instead Ne5 is recommended by the computer 21.Qxd5+ Kh8 22.Kg2 fxg5 23.Bg3 Bf6? another mistake 24.Qxd6 Qe8 25.Rhf1 Rd8 26.Rad1 Qxe4+ 27.Bf3 Qxc2+ 28.Rf2 Qc4 29.Bc6 Bxb2 30.Rxb2 Qc3 31.Qd4+ Qxd4 32.Rxd4 and White won. GM Bharath Subramaniyam H (2562) did all mistakes he could which accentuated his opponent's attack.

GM Aditya Mittal's ambitious play against GM Bharath Subramaniyam H worked out

Iniyan - Mayank

Position after 42.Rd7

IM Mayank Chakraborty (2452) was winning for the better part of the endgame. However, his opponent, the reigning National Rapid champion, GM Iniyan Pa (2586) showed his resiliency. Black went wrong when he played 42...Rg7? instead 42...Nd4 43.Rxf7 Nxf3+ 44.Kg3 Nd2 and it should have been a comfortable win for Black. The game continued 43.Kh5 Nd4 44.Kh6 Ne6 45.Ra7+ Kb5 and Black eventually lost the knight.

Position after 57.Rd6+

Black can salvage a draw by moving the king to almost any square. Apart from the obvious mistakes, where should Black not move his king? Mayank moved his king to one of the few squares he should not have and went on to lose the game.

GM Iniyan Pa showed great tenacity to win a game which he would have lost against IM Mayank Chakraborty

IM Aswath S had an exciting draw against GM Siddharth Jagadeesh (SGP)

GM Prraneeth Vuppala defeated IM Arystanbek Urazayev (KAZ) to move to 6/8

Round 7 in progress

For more Round 8 photos, please click here.

Replay Round 8 games

Round 8 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
8	4	12	GM	Aditya Mittal	2560	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2562	11
8	5	5	GM	Iniyan Pa	2586	5	1 - 0	5½	IM	Mayank Chakraborty	2452	52
8	11	23	IM	Aswath S	2500	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Siddharth Jagadeesh	2458	44
8	12	43	GM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2458	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Urazayev Arystanbek	2490	28
8	14	41	IM	Jubin Jimmy	2464	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Stremavicius Titas	2549	16
8	15	19	GM	Fawzy Adham	2502	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Borgaonkar Akshay	2452	51
8	16	50	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2452	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Suleymenov Alisher	2500	22
8	19	27	IM	Seemann Jakub	2495	4½	1 - 0	4½	FM	Wagh Suyog	2400	87
8	20	31	IM	Nitish Belurkar	2486	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan	2410	73
8	21	78	IM	Kushagra Mohan	2408	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Rathanvel V S	2486	32
8	22	33	IM	Agmanov Zhandos	2485	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Raahul V S	2378	104
8	23	35	GM	Srihari L R	2482	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Chen Ryo	2395	91
8	24	125	IM	Ritviz Parab	2356	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Md Imran	2478	38
8	27	25	IM	Rohith Krishna S	2500	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi	2396	89
8	28	70	IM	Goutham Krishna H	2414	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2482	34
8	29	93	FM	Aditya Vikram Paul	2394	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Bazakutsa Svyatoslav	2481	36
8	31	49	IM	Narayanan Samrug	2453	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Vantika Agrawal	2375	108
8	33	96	IM	Budhidharma Nayaka	2389	4	½ - ½	4		Vignesh Advaith Vemula	2441	55
8	34	58	IM	Mohamed Anees M	2428	4	½ - ½	4	FM	Novozhilov Semen	2358	122
8	37	64	IM	Manafov Vugar	2419	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	2344	134
8	38	68	IM	Bai Adelard	2415	4	1 - 0	4	FM	Potawad Anirudhha	2301	175
8	40	37	IM	Bronstein Or	2479	3½	1 - 0	4	IM	Sanket Chakravarty	2329	144
8	42	123	FM	Akhilbay Imangali	2357	3½	0 - 1	3½	IM	Audi Ameya	2428	57
8	43	66	IM	Ravi Teja S.	2417	3½	½ - ½	3½	FM	Jinan Jomon	2347	132
8	44	129	FM	Zielonka Adam	2351	3½	½ - ½	3½	IM	Sahib Singh	2416	67

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	K	rtg+/-
1	6	GM	Lazavik, Denis	BLR	2584	6,5	0	38	34	10	14,8
2	12	GM	Aditya, Mittal	IND	2560	6,5	0	35	32	10	18,3
3	2	GM	Naiditsch, Arkadij	BUL	2604	6,5	0	34,5	31	10	10,9
4	15	GM	Zeng, Chongsheng	CHN	2553	6	0	38	33,5	10	12,4
5	9	GM	Socko, Bartosz	POL	2574	6	0	36,5	32,5	10	8,1
6	5	GM	Iniyan, Pa	IND	2586	6	0	33,5	30	10	8,3
7	3	GM	Grebnev, Aleksey	FID	2595	6	0	33	29,5	10	1
8	8	GM	Tin, Jingyao	SGP	2579	6	0	33	28,5	10	5,1
9	40	IM	Tsaruk, Maksim	FID	2470	6	0	32,5	29	10	8,9
10	43	GM	Prraneeth, Vuppala	IND	2458	6	0	32	28	10	14,2
11	72	IM	Amilal, Munkhdalai	MGL	2410	6	0	31	28	10	26,5
12	42	IM	Dau, Khuong Duy	VIE	2462	6	0	29	25,5	10	11,2
13	1	GM	Sjugirov, Sanan	HUN	2636	5,5	0	37	33	10	-3,4
14	18	GM	Xue, Haowen	CHN	2535	5,5	0	36,5	33	10	13,5
15	11	GM	Bharath, Subramaniyam H	IND	2562	5,5	0	35,5	31,5	10	3,7
16	44	GM	Siddharth, Jagadeesh	SGP	2458	5,5	0	35	31,5	10	13,1
17	52	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty	IND	2452	5,5	0	34,5	31	10	13,1
18	26	GM	Hardaway, Brewington	USA	2499	5,5	0	33	29	10	5,1
19	31	IM	Nitish, Belurkar	IND	2486	5,5	0	32,5	28,5	10	3,4
20	38	IM	Md, Imran	IND	2478	5,5	0	32	28,5	10	7,2
21	27	IM	Seemann, Jakub	POL	2495	5,5	0	31	27,5	10	4
22	23	IM	Aswath, S	IND	2500	5,5	0	31	27,5	10	-1,3
23	29	IM	Khubukshanov, Erdem	FID	2489	5,5	0	30,5	28	10	9,2
24	59	FM	Ashraf, Artin	IRI	2428	5,5	0	30,5	28	10	20,7
25	22	GM	Suleymenov, Alisher	KAZ	2500	5,5	0	30,5	27	10	2,4

Details

Round 9 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
9	2	3	GM	Grebnev Aleksey	2595	6	6½	GM	Aditya Mittal	2560	12
9	3	42	IM	Dau Khuong Duy	2462	6	6	GM	Iniyan Pa	2586	5
9	5	9	GM	Socko Bartosz	2574	6	6	GM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2458	43
9	8	11	GM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2562	5½	5½	IM	Seemann Jakub	2495	27
9	10	18	GM	Xue Haowen	2535	5½	5½	IM	Nitish Belurkar	2486	31
9	11	22	GM	Suleymenov Alisher	2500	5½	5½	IM	Mayank Chakraborty	2452	52
9	12	91	IM	Chen Ryo	2395	5½	5½	IM	Aswath S	2500	23
9	16	51	IM	Borgaonkar Akshay	2452	5	5	GM	Makhnev Denis	2540	17
9	19	28	IM	Urazayev Arystanbek	2490	5	5	IM	Kushagra Mohan	2408	78
9	21	89	IM	Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi	2396	5	5	IM	Rathanvel V S	2486	32
9	23	34	GM	Chanda Sandipan	2482	5	5	IM	Tudor Henry Edward	2396	90
9	25	104	IM	Raahul V S	2378	5	5	IM	Jubin Jimmy	2464	41
9	26	24	IM	Materia Marco	2500	4½	4½	IM	Aaditya Dhingra	2394	92
9	29	87	FM	Wagh Suyog	2400	4½	4½	IM	Narayanan Samrug	2453	49
9	30	100	FM	Manvelyan Mikayel	2386	4½	4½	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2452	50
9	31	55		Vignesh Advaith Vemula	2441	4½	4½	FM	Aditya Vikram Paul	2394	93
9	33	57	IM	Audi Ameya	2428	4½	4½	FM	Yang Zilong	2375	109
9	34	108	IM	Vantika Agrawal	2375	4½	4½	IM	Mohamed Anees M	2428	58
9	36	125	IM	Ritviz Parab	2356	4½	4½	IM	Manafov Vugar	2419	64
9	38	134	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	2344	4½	4½	IM	Agasarov Benik	2408	76
9	40	143	FM	Jval Saurin Patel	2330	4½	4½	IM	Soham Kamotra	2407	80
9	41	7	GM	Hong Andrew	2580	4	4	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	2353	126
9	43	53	IM	Aizenberg Benny	2450	4	4	FM	Namitbir Singh Walia	2340	137
9	45	65	FM	Daaevik Wadhawan	2419	4	4	FM	Abdulraheem Abdulrahman Akintoye	2330	142
9	46	144	IM	Sanket Chakravarty	2329	4	4	IM	Ravi Teja S.	2417	66

Details

Links

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Tournament Regulations

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