Russian Grandmaster (GM) Aleksey Grebnev reclaimed sole leadership at the 25th Dubai Open Chess Tournament following a hard-fought victory over India’s International Master (IM) S. Rohith Krishna during Monday night’s seventh round at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.

Grebnev capitalised on a string of inaccuracies by Krishna in an otherwise balanced position to eliminate his former co-leader and move into the lead with six points. The 18-year-old Russian now holds a narrow advantage over two teenage grandmasters three years his junior — compatriot Ivan Zemlyanskii and Iran’s Sina Movahed — who both trail closely with 5.5 points.

Movahed, who turned 15 on the tournament’s opening day, and Zemlyanskii, who turns 15 in August, recorded the most impressive victories of the round, defeating defending champion GM Mahammad Muradli and top seed GM Nihal Sarin respectively.

Muradli suffered his second consecutive defeat as Movahed launched a tactical kingside assault. After sacrificing a pawn early in the opening to weaken Muradli’s defence, the young Iranian struggled to find the precise follow-up until a risky 39th move by the Azerbaijani allowed Movahed to unleash a devastating attack, culminating in Muradli’s resignation just three moves later.

Meanwhile, Sarin, playing with the black pieces, took significant risks in pursuit of a win after two consecutive draws. Though initially successful in creating weaknesses on White’s kingside, he failed to sustain the offensive. Zemlyanskii seized the opportunity to force a queen exchange, neutralising the attack and entering a favourable endgame with a pawn advantage, which he ultimately converted into victory.

Grebnev will defend his lead with the black pieces against Movahed in the upcoming eighth round.

In Category B, Iran’s FIDE Master (FM) Mahdi Nikookar’s perfect run came to an end following a draw with Sri Lanka’s Pesandu Rashmitha Liyanage in the seventh round. Nonetheless, Nikookar retains his lead with 6.5 points. He is followed closely by Liyanage and India’s Candidate Master (CM) Alankar Sawai Vandan, both with six points. Vandan overcame Armenia’s Davit Baghdasaryan in his latest game.

The tournament follows a nine-round Swiss system, with a time control of 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move. Games begin daily at 5pm, with the final round on 4 June scheduled for 10am. The awarding ceremony will be held on 5 June.

The event boasts a total prize pool of $52,000 across both categories. Category A, reserved for players rated over 2300, offers $39,500 in prizes, including $12,000 for the champion. Category B, open to players rated below 2300, offers $12,500 in total, with $2,000 awarded to the winner.

Additional prizes will be presented to top performers in various rating brackets, including unrated players, youth, women, and UAE representatives.

Chess enthusiasts worldwide can watch live broadcasts of Category A matches via the club’s official website and platforms such as Lichess.org and Chess.com.

Earlier in the sixth round on Sunday, IM S. Rohith Krishna shocked defending champion Muradli to move into joint first place alongside GM Grebnev. Grebnev had drawn with GM Nihal Sarin, allowing Krishna to pull level on five points. Sarin remained in joint second with 4.5 points, joined by GM Bharath Subramaniyam, GM Zemlyanskii, GM Shant Sargsyan, and GM Movahed.

Muradli had opted for a delayed Benko Gambit and sacrificed a pawn on move six. The game transposed into a line previously seen in a high-profile clash between world number two Hikaru Nakamura and former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov. However, Muradli deviated on move 13 — a misstep that allowed Krishna to consolidate his central control and position a dominant knight on the c4-square, a critical outpost in Benko structures.