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.


Certificate: SNA Seminar & Exam held in Jammu on 17 & 18 July 2026
Asian Amateur Chess Championships – 2026 (Men & Women U2300 – U2000 – U1700) in Bangkok, Thailand from 20th to 30th November, 2026.
Final report :Asian Junior Open & Girls Chess Championships 2026 in Mumbai from 16-26 August 2026
FIDE World Amateur Chess Championships – 2026 in Klang, Selangor, Malaysia from 04-13 November 2026.
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