Mahammad Muradli (right) contemplates a move against Sina Movahed during the eighth round of Dubai Open Chess Tournament.

Gulf Today, Sports Reporter

Grandmaster (GM) Mahammad Muradli restored his place as the sole leader in Category A after shutting down the challenge of Iranian prodigy International Master (IM) Sina Movahed in Saturday night’s eighth round of the 24th Dubai Open Chess Tournament at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.

With the win, the Azerbaijan grandmaster moved to the top of the standings with 6.5 points, half a point ahead of three other players.

Muradli repelled Movahed’s strange attacking manoeuvre wherein the Iranian made five consecutive moves that transported the queenside rook from its starting place to ultimately giving itself up for the f3-knight on move 19. In response, Muradli walked his king back to the center and mobilised his two rooks to repulse Movahed’s kingside aggression. Muradli then picked the right time to return the exchange and liquidate into an endgame where his centralised knight would dominate Movahed’s hapless light-squared bishop that was locked up inside a pawn chain. 

GM Raunak Sadhwani of India, the highest-rated player in the tournament after top-seed GM Teimour Radjabov earlier withdrew due to health reasons, demolished fellow Indian player IM L R Srihari’s English opening for his sixth point. Two players from China emerged out of nowhere to join Sadhwani at joint second place and put themselves in contention for the title. GM Di Li and GM Changren Dai, who both have an unbeaten record in the tournament, had been stalking the leaders from a distance after being slowed down by several draws in previous rounds but picked up the pace with back-to-back wins in rounds seven and eight.

Li benefited from a huge oversight by erstwhile co-leader GM Velimir Ivic of Serbia, who uncharacteristically missed a back-rank mate in an otherwise equal position. Dai defeated IM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus after the young Turkish talent misplayed the endgame.

In Category B, Yousef A. Alhassadi likewise enters the final round as the sole leader. The Libyan national player drew his game with the UAE’s Saif Ahmed to stay half a point ahead of the field with seven points. India’s WIM Srishti Pandey and Kazakhstan’s Fide Master (FM) Bakhyt  Temirov remain in joint second place with 6.5 points after they also drew their game. The young Chinese player Yang Zilong made it a three-way tie at second place with a win over the UAE’s FM Ahmed Fareed.