GM Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia won the Dubai Open Blitz Chess Championship held Friday at the Dubai Chess Club. The 31-year-old Georgian finished with 7.5 points winning by tie break with GM Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan.

Pantsulaia won the top prize of $1,000 for the one day break during the Dubai Open. The Georgian beat Nader Nowroozian of Iran, Nagueb Saleh of the UAE, IM Haridas Pascua of the Philippines, IM G.A. Stany of India and GM Bortosz Socko of Poland. Facing stronger oppositiona from the sixth round, Pantsulaia drew with GM Salem A.R. Saleh of the UAE, Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan and Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli of Venezuela. In the final round Pantsulaia beat GM Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko of Ukraine.

Safarli, 25, finished in a tied with 7.5 points after beating Vasanta Wettasinha of Sri Lanka, Erfan Abdulhamid and GM Abdelrahman Hesham of Egypt and R.R. Laxman of India. Safarlie drew with GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili of Georgai, beat top seed GM Anton Korobov of Ukraine, drew with eventual winner Levan Pantsulaia, beat local hero GM Salem A. R. Saleh of the UAE and then in the final round drew with GM Bartosz Socko of Poland.

Salem finished third with 7 points in a tie with Korobov, Socko, Sergei Zhigalko of Belarus for their share of the prize money. GM Gawain Jones of England also finished with 7 points but lost out in the tie break to land outside the prize money.

The tournament is held under the Patronage of Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum A total of 104 players participated in the 9 round blitz championship traditionally held on the Friday holiday. Visit chess-results.com for final standings and results.