The event by Abu Dhabi Chess & Culture Club was held on Chess.com on April 15 and became one the strongest online tournaments ever.

"Based on the directives of the authorities to the residents to stay at home during the lockdown, the Abu Dhabi sports council took the initiative to organize a big online event," said Hussein Abdullah Khouri, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Abu Dhabi Chess & Culture Club.

$10,000 prize fund with $5,000 going to a winner attracted an impressive field. More than 1100 titled players started the race, including superstars like Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alexander Grischuk, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Anish Giri and others.

The time control was usual for regulars of blitz events on chess.com: 3 minutes + 1 second increment. The first stage was an 11-round Swiss tournament with the top eight finishers going to the playoff.

Seven players finished on 9.5/11: GMs Nihal Sarin, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Oleksandr Bortnyk, Peter Svidler, Daniil Dubov, Vladislav Artemiev, and somewhat surprisingly FM Artur Avalyan. GM Parham Maghsoodloo was the luckiest one of the big tie on 9/11 - he had the best tiebreak to close the top 8 rankings. Several upsets included Nakamura, Caruana, Grischuk, and Giri failing to qualify as well as Andreikin falling out of the top despite being a sole leader after round 9.

The playoff stage consisted of mini-matches of 2 games and a 5/4 armageddon as a tiebreaker and had the players to be on camera for the duration of the games as an additional anti-cheating measure, as well as a treat for spectators. The facial expression of Peter Svidler blundering and losing to Daniil Dubov in the Armageddon of their quarterfinal said it all before the winning move was made by Dubov.

Quarter-finals:

Nihal Sarin - Parham Maghsoodloo 2-0
Oleksandr Bortnyk - Artur Avalyan 1.5-0.5
Vladislav Artemiev - Ian Nepomniachtchi 2-0
Daniil Dubov - Peter Svidler 2-1

Vladislav Artemiev proved the Russian saying "a champion always has luck on his side" in the very first game of the playoff when his opponent Ian Nepomnichtchi blundered mate in a totally winning position. The current European champion did not stumble again and was very convincing in the next matches, though.

In the semis, Oleksandr Bortnyk eliminated Nihal Sarin 2-0 and Vladislav Artemiev knocked our Daniil Dubov by the same score. Nobody could stop Artemiev that evening. Being on a roll, he smashed Bortnyk with his signature 2-0 in the final to take home the main jackpot of $5,000. Bortnyk earned $3,000 for his second place. Dubov defeated Nihal Sarin in the match for third and took home $1,500. Following this victory, Artemiev also became the number-one-rated blitz player on chess.com.

Photo: chess.com