A highly competitive open event
Round four of the Superstars tournament in Fujairah saw three decisive results on the top seven boards, leaving nine players tied for first place on 3 points each. The victories allowed Amin Tabatabaei, Gleb Dudin and Zhu Jiner to join the six players who had begun the day as co-leaders.
Third seed Tabatabaei, representing Iran, secured a win with the white pieces to stay firmly in contention. Dudin, seeded 33rd, also prevailed to reach the leading score, underlining the depth of the field. The most striking result came from Zhu Jiner, the 44th seed (out of 44) and the only female participant in the Superstars category. Zhu defeated former European champion Alexander Motylev with white, continuing a strong run of form.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: Invisible moves
The 22-year-old has recently impressed in the Turkish League, which combined with her strong performance in Fujairah has added 26.3 rating points to her tally. This progress has lifted her to fourth place in the live women’s ranking, joining compatriots Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun and Lei Tingjie at the top of the global list.
In round five, scheduled for Thursday, Zhu will face Azerbaijan’s 20-year-old rising star Aydin Suleymanli with the black pieces.
After losing in the first round, Amin Tabatabaei scored three wins in a row – here pictured facing Arkadij Naiditsch in round two | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
Zhu 1-0 Motylev
Standings after round 4
| 1 | GM | JACOBSON, Brandon | 2594 | 3 | 10,5 | |
| 2 | GM | SULEYMANLI, Aydin | 2609 | 3 | 10 | |
| 3 | GM | PRANAV, V | 2597 | 3 | 9,5 | |
| 4 | GM | HONG, Andrew | 2580 | 3 | 9,5 | |
| 5 | GM | SJUGIROV, Sanan | 2636 | 3 | 9 | |
| 6 | GM | MARTINEZ ALCANTARA, Jose Eduardo | 2636 | 3 | 8 | |
| 7 | GM | DUDIN, Gleb | 2583 | 3 | 7,5 | |
| 8 | GM | TABATABAEI, M. Amin | 2673 | 3 | 7 | |
| 9 | GM | ZHU, Jiner | 2536 | 3 | 7 | |
| 10 | GM | CHEPARINOV, Ivan | 2625 | 2,5 | 9,5 | |
| 11 | GM | MISHRA, Abhimanyu | 2610 | 2,5 | 9,5 | |
| 12 | GM | SADHWANI, Raunak | 2676 | 2,5 | 7,5 | |
| 13 | GM | SHANKLAND, Sam | 2670 | 2,5 | 7,5 | |
| 14 | GM | ADITYA, Mittal | 2560 | 2,5 | 7,5 | |
| 15 | GM | THEODOROU, Nikolas | 2646 | 2,5 | 6,5 | |
| 16 | GM | MOTYLEV, Alexander | 2595 | 2 | 10,5 | |
| 17 | GM | ZEMLYANSKII, Ivan | 2586 | 2 | 9,5 | |
| 18 | GM | NARAYANAN, S L | 2595 | 2 | 9 | |
| 19 | GM | PRANESH, M | 2589 | 2 | 9 | |
| 20 | GM | MURADLI, Mahammad | 2586 | 2 | 9 | |
| 21 | GM | GREBNEV, Aleksey | 2595 | 2 | 8,5 | |
| 22 | GM | PICHOT, Alan | 2581 | 2 | 8,5 | |
| 23 | GM | SALEM, A.R. Saleh | 2640 | 2 | 8 | |
| 24 | GM | NIHAL, Sarin | 2692 | 2 | 7,5 | |
| 25 | GM | DANESHVAR, Bardiya | 2625 | 2 | 7 |
