The 27th edition of the Abu Dhabi International Festival, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Nahyan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Sports Council, runs from December 12-16 at the Sofitel Abu Dhabi Hotel, UAE. The event organized by the Abu Dhabi Chess and Mind Games Club, under the supervision of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, has a total prize fund of USD 40,000.

The official opening of the festival took place today and was attended by Aref Al Awani, the Secretary-General of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, Arkady Dvorkovich, President of the International Chess Federation, Hussein Al Khoury, President of the Abu Dhabi Chess Club, Dr. Abdullah Al-Wahshi, Chairman of the Festival Organizing Committee, and Muhammad Al-Mudhahki, President of the Qatar Chess Federation.

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich opened the event by making the ceremonial move in presense of distinguished guests and players. At the board are the tournament's rating-favourite, top UAE GM Salem A.R. Saleh and highest-rated African GM Bassem Amin.

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the number of participants was reduced to 195 players from 49 countries, competing in six different tournaments: Masters Rapid and Masters Blitz Tournaments, Open Rapid and Open Blitz Tournaments, Juniors Rapid Tournament and Frontline Heroes Chess Tournament, open for members of military, police and national service health workers in the UAE. The line-up of the festival includes Vladislav Kovalev (FIDE), Parham Maghsoodloo (Iran), A.R. Saleh Salem (UAE), Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia), Bassem Amin (Egypt), Jules Moussard (France), Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine) and many others.

After five rounds of Masters Rapid Tournament, Parham Maghsoodloo (Iran) emerged as a leader with 4½  points, followed by Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine), sitting on 4 points. Rinat Jumabayev (Kazakhstan) and Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia) are tied for third place with 3½ points.

In Round 6, Eljanov emerged as a new leader after beating Maghsoodloo, whereas Fedoseev defeated Jumabayev. At this point, the Russian GM rose to the fore as he scored two consecutive victories over the Ukrainian and the Iranian to create a full point margin over his rivals before the final round. In Round 9, Fedoseev made a quick draw with Viktor Erdos to secure first place. Bassem Amin pulled off a crucial victory over Rinat Jumabayev to finish second; Viktor Erdos is third, edging out Pavel Eljanov thanks to the higher average rating of the opponents.

Final standings Abu Dhabi Masters Rapid:

More information about the event can be found here.

The blitz event (a Swiss tournament with 3+2 time control) was played on Wednesday, December 15th and saw Vladimir Fedoseev scoring double in Abu Dhabi. The Russian GM tied for the first with Bartosz Socko, but came out on top as the winner of their direct encounter played  in Round 7.

Final standings Abu Dhabi Masters Blitz:

More information about the event can be found here.