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Abu Dhabi: Shaikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Bin Shakhboot Al Nahyan, the President of the Asian Chess Federation, declared open the 16th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival, on behalf of the patron Lt General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Minister of Interior.
Top-seeded, Grand Master (GM) Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan won his opening match against IM Maia Lomineishvill of Georgia, while second-seeded GM Evegenij Miroshinichenko from Ukraine was forced to settle for a tie with IM Mahmoud Lodhi of Pakistan, seeded 43rd.
UAE's Ali Abdul Khaliq, seeded 54th, came up with a good show, forcing 28th-seeded IM Sergey Kayumov from Uzbekistan to split points with him.
Third-seeded GM Alexei Fedorov from Belarus jumped one place in the seedings, following his win over IM Hassan Abdullah of the UAE.
UAE GM Taleb Moussa beat compatriot Abdullah Al Marzouqi to earn his first point in the competition.
Most of the local boys, who wanted to use this competition to earn better exposure, have lost their matches against more experienced and higher-ranked opponents. FM Jasem Abdul Rahman lost to GM Sergei Azarov, while his brother FM Salem Abdul Rahman lost to IM Anar Allahverdiev. Ebrahim Esmail was defeated by IM Eltaj Safari, Ahmad Eshag lost to IM Vlado Jakovijevic, Woman GM Anna Ushenina beat FM Ebrahim Mohammad Khory, FM Darban Morteza beat Jumaa Al Muhairy, Khalid Ahmad Khory lost to FM Sami Khader, while Indian Ranath Bhuvanesh beat FM Marwan Abdul Wahab.
In the third round, Gashimov meets GM Sturua Zurab, IM Sale Sardjan will play against Fedorov and Taleb Moussa will take on GM Rauof Mamedov from Azerbaijan.
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