Four Armenian chess players (Gevork Harutyunian, Hrant Melkumian, Gabriel Sargissian, Tigran Kotanjian) won the 2nd round matches of Dubai Open Chess Championship, which hosts 150 participants from 32 countries.

The tournament leader Tigran Petrossian was defeated by an opponent from Iran. Gevork Harutyunian scored a 1:0 victory over Azerbaijani chess player Shabanov Nurlan Mammad oglu. Hrant Melkumian is currently the 11th with 2 points.

The tournament is played in 9 rounds according to the Swiss System, with time control of 1 hour 30 minutes for the whole game with an incremental time of 30 seconds per move.

The Championship Organizing Committee will grants the prize fund of US $45000 and the winner will be awarded the custody of Sheikh Rashed Bin Hamdan Al Mactoum Cup. If two or more players share the same place, the money will be equally shared. In case of shared first place, the Cup will be awarded by the average rating of 8 strongest opponents of the each involved player.

Top ten prizes are: 1st place - $8000, 2nd - $5000, 3rd - $4000, 4th - $3500, 5th - $2500, 6th - $2200, 7th - $2000, 8th - $1700, 9th - $1500, 10th - $1300. Special prizes for ladies - $2300, special prizes for local players - $6000.