GM Murali Karthikeyan
Jobava in Sole Lead, Karthikeyan Murali trails a point behind
The Georgian super grandmaster, Baadur Jobova took the sole lead with the full score at the end of round 5 of the Master’s section of Abu Dhabi Chess Festival in progress here at Hotel Sofitel.

Jobova, who has lost a good number of rating points, started as the 26th seed but his class is evident the way he demolished his opponents. He is followed by Iran’s GM Parham Maghsoodloo on the second place. Tied for third place are ten players including Indian GM Karthikeyan Murali.
Pairings of the next round for IND
| Rd. | Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 6 | 3 | 14 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 2612 | 4 | 4 | GM | Volokitin Andrei | 2636 | 7 | |||
| 6 | 8 | 36 | GM | Aryan Chopra | 2553 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Onischuk Vladimir | 2640 | 6 | |||
| 6 | 11 | 74 | FM | Assaubayeva Bibisara | 2375 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | 2607 | 15 | |||
| 6 | 13 | 18 | GM | Antipov Mikhail Al. | 2599 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2569 | 32 | |||
| 6 | 15 | 78 | FM | Rathanvel V S | 2367 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | 2594 | 21 | |||
| 6 | 17 | 24 | GM | Vaibhav Suri | 2591 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Xu Yi | 2531 | 39 | |||
| 6 | 19 | 57 | IM | Krishna C R G | 2444 | 3 | 3 | GM | Akopian Vladimir | 2650 | 5 | |||
| 6 | 20 | 8 | GM | Ter-Sahakyan Samvel | 2632 | 3 | 3 | IM | Aditya Mittal | 2429 | 61 | |||
| 6 | 21 | 19 | GM | Bai Jinshi | 2599 | 3 | 3 | GM | Laxman R.R. | 2426 | 62 |
The participation of the Indian contingent in this US $ 70,000 prize money tournament is to provide exposure to young Indian talents in strong international events.


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21-year-old Aaryan Varshney from Delhi has become India’s 92nd Chess Grandmaster
Certificate of 14th NATIONAL SCHOOL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP-2025 in Guwahati from 27-31 Dec 2025
AICF ARBITER REFRESHER COURSE 2026-2027
Final report of SNA Seminar & Exam in Ahmedabad on 02 & 03 January 2026
Final report of SNA seminar & Exam in Bhopal on 10 & 11 January 2026