Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
Aug 19 2005

Mikhail stuns Konstantin to take lead
By A Correspondent

19 August 2005

DUBAI – Kobalia Mikhail of Russia defeated overnight leader Grandmaster
Chernyshov Konstantin on the fourth day of the Abu Dhabi Chess Festival
being held at Khalidya Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi.

Defending champion Grandmaster Bocharov Dmitry scored a brilliant
victory over top seeded Mamedyarov Shakhriyar of Azerbaijan in a long
battle lasting 64 moves from a Grunfeld defence Fianchetto variation.
It was an intensely contested match which went to the wire in a
complex endgame.

Kobalia Mikhail and Anastasian Ashot of Armenia also won convincingly
to join Dimitry at the top of the table with 3.5 points in the Masters
section at the end of the fourth round of Abu Dhabi Chess Festival.

Mikhail defeated Russia’s Konstantin in 35 moves from Sicilian defence
Richter-Rauzer variation. Mikhail conducted a dazzling attack after
saddling his opponent with weak doubled pawns. A combination of
positional and tactical moves culminated in a blistering attack
initiated by a piece sacrifice.

WFM Bogza Oana of Romania, Ali Mahmoud, Al-Khaja Arif and Khalifa
Khamis Ali of UAE, Azemati Amir of Iran, Khudaverdieva Afag of
Azerbaijan and Abdul Ghanee Madaran of Philippines are in the lead
with 4 points in the Open section.

In the Children’s section, Bajarani Ulvi of Azerbaijan, Vakilpour Azin,
Azad Bakhsh Farshid and Javadi Fatemeh of Iran, Dhruv Hingorani and
Vishnu Vijay of India and Mohammed Hamza Abdulkareem of UAE shared
the lead with 3 points at the end of the third round.