After 4 rounds in Dubai it's a two way tie between Sergey Volkov and Parimarjan Negi - both have perfect scores. The expected encounter between them will have to wait another round, for colour reasons. They are both black in rd 5 playing Mikheil Mchedlishvili (GEO) and Csaba Balogh (HUN) respectively. Top seeded Krishnan Sasikiran (IND) is also 1/2 pt behind.

The Thailand Open is also taking place and has four 2600+ players including two of the world's premier players - Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP) and Nigel Short (ENG), who should need no introduction. They both have 4.5 out of 5 and are respectively playing the other leaders in rd 6, GM's Abhijit Kunte (IND) and Win Lay Zaw (MYA).

Coming soon: US Championship !!