Abu Dhabi Masters 2026

Tied for second, fifth on the tie-break

The Masters section of the 32nd Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival ran nine rounds at the Radisson Blu on the Corniche from 15 to 24 August 2026: 109 players, an average rating of 2368, and an average age of twenty.

GM Jakhongir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan won it outright on 7/9. Five players finished half a point back on 6.5 — Daniil Dubov, Aleksandr Rakhmanov, Rudik Makarian, Pranav and Daniyal Sapenov — and only the Buchholz separated them into second through sixth place. Pranav, seeded fifth, finished fifth.

Thirty-eight Indians played the Masters. He was the only one in the top five; the next, GM Iniyan Pa, was seventh.

Round by round

Wins in rounds one and three over IM Aaron Jacobson and FM Vladimir Maslovskiy, either side of a draw with IM Bakhrom Bakhrillaev, put him on 2.5/3. Round four was the one loss of the event, with black against GM Edgar Mamedov, who went on to finish tenth.

He did not lose again. Wins over IM Antonio Dcunha Viani and IM Munkhdalai Amilal brought him back to the top boards, and the last three rounds were all against players in the eventual top fifteen: a draw with GM Rudik Makarian, a win over IM Sergey Sklokin-Bagiyan, and a final-round draw with GM Ivan Zemlyanskii on board three that secured the shared second-place score.

Five wins, three draws, one loss. A 2618 performance rating and 4.4 rating points gained from a 2584 start.

What it counts for

The half-point that decides an open is rarely the one you remember. It is the tie-break you cannot play for.

Six players separated by nothing but Buchholz is the ordinary arithmetic of a strong open. Second and fifth paid differently; they were the same tournament.