Georgian GM grabs blitz title

GM Baadur Jobava of Georgia, the top seed, won the Dubai International Blitz Championship.

He beat six opponents and drew with three others to finish alone with 7-1/2 points out of 9 rounds. Four players shared 2^nd to 5^th place. Tied with 7 points each were GMs Mikheil Mchedlishvili of Georgia, Vladimir Baklan and Alexander Kovchan of Ukraine, and Avetik Grigoryan of Armenia.

A strong group of 84 players from 21 countries took part in the one-day competition including 21 Grandmasters and 9 International Masters. At stake was a total of $4,000 in cash prizes.

On his way to winning the top prize of $1,000 Jobava, rated 2706, beat GMs Gevorg Harutjunyan of Armenia, David Arutunian and Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia and IM Fouad El Taher of Egypt.

Jobava drew with GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran, Alexander Kovchan of Ukraine and coasted to a draw in the last round with compatriot GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili.

Trailing with 6.5 points eachwere GMs Zaven Andriasian and Robert Hovhannisyan, and untitled Vahe Baghdasaryan, allof Armenia, and GM Sergey Volkov of Russia for 6^th to 10^th places.

Finishing in a tie for 11^th to 16^th places at 6 points each are GMs Normunds Miezis of Latvia, Gevorg Harutjunyan and Tigran L. Petrosian of Armenia, GM Saleh Salem of the UAE, IM Bhuvanesh Ramnath of India and untitled Grigor Dilanyan of Armenia.