Grebnev reclaims solo leadership with two rounds to go in Dubai chess tourney

Grandmaster (GM) Aleksey Grebnev of Russia once again distanced himself from the field with a hard-fought win against International Master (IM) S. Rohith Krishna of India in Monday night's seventh round of the 25th Dubai Open Chess Tournament at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.

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Grebnev captalised on a series of blunders by Krishna in what was otherwise an equal position to dispose of his erstwhile co-leader and take the tournament lead with six points. The 18-year-old Russian is trailed closely by two other teenage grandmasters three years his junior-his compatriot Ivan Zemlyanskii and Sina Movahed of Iran, who both have 5.5 points.

Movahed, who turned 15 last week during the tournament's opening day, and Zemlyanskii, two months shy of his 15th birthday in August, scored the biggest scalps of the round after defeating defending champion GM Mahammad Muradli and top-seed GM Nihal Sarin, respectively.

Movahed inflicted Muradli's second consecutive loss in the tournament. Muradli was on the backpedal right out of the opening as Movahed sacrificed a pawn to weaken the Azerbaijani's kingside defence. Movahed, however, could not find the precise continuation to convert his advantage until a greedy pawn grab by Muradli on the 39th move allowed the Iranian to launch an overwhelming attack with all his pieces contributing to the onslaught. Muradli resigned three moves later.