Seven others – four GMs, an IM and two untitled players – have a chance to win or tie for the championship depending on Thursday night’s final-round results
GM Salem A.R. Saleh
Dubai, UAE – The UAE’s Grandmaster (GM) GM Salem A.R. Saleh remained at the top of the standings going into the final round as he outplayed third-seed GM Victor Moskalenko of Spain in the seventh round and then settled for a draw with his coach, top-seed GM Ivan Sokolov of the Netherlands, in the eighth round Wednesday night at the 12th Allegiance to Zayed Chess Tournament at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Hamdan Bin Rashid hall of the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.
Saleh, seeded second in the tournament, has 7.5 points and maintains a slim half-point lead over his nearest pursuers. He takes on sixth-seed GM Ulvi Bajarani of Azerbaijan in the ninth round Thursday night.
Fifth-seed GM Elmar Magerramov of Azerbaijan, one of the instructors at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club’s chess school, and seventh-seed Talal Hilwani of Syria are at joint second and third places with seven points apiece. Magerramov defeated his compatriot Bajarani in the seventh round and then won over Fide Master (FM) Antonio Molina in the eighth, while Hilwani scored victories over Mahmoud Haitham of Sudan and his compatriot Abdul Kader Raes to stay in contention for the championship trophy.
Sokolov, who also serves as the UAE national team coach, Moskalenko and Bajarani and two others occupy the third rung of the standings with 6.5 points each. Sokolov won his seventh-round match with Indian outlier Manjunath J. before the truce with Saleh, while Moskalenko and Bajarani rebounded from their setback in the seventh round with wins over tenth-seed FM Roman Zemtsov and the UAE’s 12th-seed Candidate Master (CM) Najib Saleh respectively.
Also with 6.5 points are ninth-seed International Master (IM) Mehrshad Sharif of France and 13th-seed Jobannie C. Tabada of the Philippines. Sharif prevailed over Saleem Shalol Hesham of Iraq and 23rd-seed Mark Matutina of the Philippines.
Tabada defeated UAE youth standout Marshool Hamdan in the seventh round and then dropped the upset ax on eight-seed IM Ali Farahat of Egypt.
On Thursday night’s final round, Magerramov takes on Hilwani on second board, Sokolov faces Sharif on third board and Moskalenko takes on Tabada. All players at the top four board encounters have a chance to either win or tie for the championship depending on the final-round results.
The nine-round Swiss system tournament will run until June 25 with two games on each playing date from 10.30pm except on the last day, which will only have one game to be followed by the awarding ceremony. Each player is allotted 15 minutes plus a three-second increment per move to complete a game. International Arbiter (IA) Saeed Yousuf Shakari is the tournament director, while IA Mahdi Abdulrahim is the chief arbiter.
A total of 181 players have signed up for the tournament, which will award the Allegiance to Zayed Chess Tournament Cup and cash prize to the champion. The rest of the top ten will also receive cash prizes. There are also special men’s and ladies’ awards for the top UAE players and top players from Dubai.
Azerbaijani duel GM Elmar Magerramov (White) vs. GM Ulvi Bajerani (Black)
Standings after 8 rounds:
1 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2607 7,5
2 GM Magerramov Elmar AZE 2516 7
3 Hilwani Talal SYR 2404 7
4 GM Bajarani Ulvi AZE 2476 6,5
5 GM Moskalenko Viktor ESP 2547 6,5
6 GM Sokolov Ivan NED 2621 6,5
7 IM Sharif Mehrshad FRA 2375 6,5
8 Tabada Jobannie C. PHI 2210 6,5
9 FM Molina Antonio PHI 2088 6
10 Raes Abdul Kader SYR 2194 6
11 FM Saleh Nabil UAE 2249 6
12 Manjunath J. IND 2010 6
13 CM Haridas K. IND 2035 6
14 Mahmoud Haitham SUD 1986 6
15 FM Somoff Abdo LIB 1999 6
16 Yap Ernesto M. PHI 2067 6
17 Abdulla Abdulwahab UAE 1932 6
18 Marcos Marvin PHI 2115 6
19 Sohib Okla SYR 2173 6
20 Matutina Mark PHI 2036 5,5
21 IM Farahat Ali EGY 2375 5,5
22 Sameir Ramez EGY 2011 5,5
23 Hamdan Marshool UAE 1799 5,5
24 FM Zemtsov Roman RUS 2301 5,5
25 CM Saleh Nagueb UAE 2211 5,5
26 Ahmed Fareed UAE 1891 5,5
27 Ronald Pernez PHI 1513 5,5
28 Jamal Amin Omer UAE 1552 5,5
29 Abdulla Ali UAE 1719 5
30 Hesham Saleem Shalol IRQ 1900 5
31 Ermachkov Sergey RUS 2178 5
32 Murad Abdulla UAE 1764 5
33 Irfan S IND 1726 5
34 FM Elmejbri Ali A. LBA 1936 5
35 Ashraf Ahmed Ramadan EGY 1871 5
36 Boshara Mohammed Ahmed SUD 1815 5
Sultan Fareed UAE 1540 5
38 Alterado Israel Franklin PHI 0 5
39 Johny P IND 1959 5
40 Perez Richard PHI 1756 5
41 SANTHOSH PURUSHOTHAMAN IND 2017 5
42 Harikrishnan Samyuktha IND 1549 5
43 Shareef Ahmad Siddiqui IND 1615 5
44 Solano Rayjan PHI 1689 5
45 Saif Ahmed UAE 1370 5
46 Dhyaa A. K. Al-Sandooq IRQ 1734 5
47 Abdulla Shaeri UAE 1620 5
48 Talal Al-Hammadi UAE 1643 5
49 Rameshwar Chaturvedi FID 0 5
50 Mosallam Mohammad UAE 1523 5
51 Mohamed Marshool UAE 1668 5
52 Shahzad Asif PAK 1703 5
53 Paul Emerson Gicale PHI 1632 5
54 Ali Abdulaziz UAE 1736 5
55 Sasikumar Anusweud IND 1888 4,5
56 Nowroozian Nader IRI 1651 4,5
57 Madduri Satya Tejeswar IND 0 4,5
58 Majed Ali Abdouli UAE 1700 4,5
59 Rahul Raghuveer IND 1514 4,5
60 Khezrian Mohammad USA 1517 4,5
61 Arun Hariharan C.R. IND 2036 4,5
62 Naidu Harish IND 1472 4,5
63 Abd Alhafeez Mohamed Ahmed SUD 1855 4,5
64 Hamad Abdul Razzaq UAE 1891 4,5
65 Mohammed Shereef M V IND 1751 4,5
66 Al-Mallahi Dawood UAE 1539 4,5
67 Ganesan, Ramesh 0 4,5
68 Rajesh Vasanthakumar IND 1530 4,5
69 Salem Ahmed Salem UAE 1575 4,5
70 Abdulrahman Mohammad Al Taher UAE 1354 4,5
71 Jehad Aysha UAE 1552 4
72 Mahmoud Ahmed UAE 1744 4
73 Mridul Thaivalappil M. IND 1337 4
74 Kumar Ayanesh IND 0 4
75 Hamad Essam UAE 1361 4
76 Al-Hammadi Maryam Hussein UAE 1295 4
77 Abeer Ali UAE 1572 4
78 Faisal Ali UAE 1532 4
79 Omar Mohammad Al Taher UAE 1455 4
80 Sai Krishna Suresh Kumar IND 1329 4
81 Zayed Sultan Al Taher UAE 1115 4
82 Fawwaz Mohammed IND 1298 4
83 Tellefsen Jan NOR 0 4
84 WIM Saleh Nora Mohd UAE 1860 4
85 Khaled Ahmed Y. UAE 1657 4
86 Rodha Faraj UAE 1258 4
87 Hamdan Saeed Ali UAE 1127 4
88 Hamed Ahmed Yousef UAE 1438 4
89 Alur Varun IND 1344 4
90 Yasmin Ali UAE 1399 4
91 Khalil Reem UAE 1083 4
92 Abou Ghazi Aiman SYR 1588 4
93 Al Ali Aisha Saif UAE 1503 4
Abdulrahim Salem UAE 1305 4
95 Mohammed Ghalia UAE 1296 4
96 Abdulla Aref UAE 0 4
97 Jawaher Khalil UAE 1276 4
98 Khezrian Nooralzahra IRI 1155 4
99 Abdulaziz Saleh UAE 1204 4
100 Alia Ali UAE 1315 4
101 Vasanth Kumaran Ganesan IND 0 4
102 Devnani Kush IND 0 3,5
103 Dimarucut Francis Erwin PHI 2118 3,5
104 Danilo Reyes G. PHI 0 3,5
105 Almaini Aishah Sarhan UAE 1308 3,5
106 Naik Atharv IND 1279 3,5
107 Raji Sayel Abu Azizah PLE 1054 3,5
108 Ali Sayel Abu Azizah PLE 0 3,5
109 Aditya Vijay Kumar IND 1413 3,5
110 Rayan Mohammad Ali Hassan UAE 1207 3,5
111 Mathew George IND 0 3,5
112 Saeed Rashed UAE 1326 3,5
113 Wahdani Mahmood Abdulla IRI 0 3,5
114 Yap Jediael Ernest Parson PHI 0 3,5
115 Al-Hammadi Manal Hussein UAE 1193 3,5
116 Ebrahim Ahmed Ebrahim UAE 1202 3
117 Abdulghafoor Rashed UAE 1542 3
118 Khalifa Essa Albalooshi UAE 0 3
119 Vasanthakumar N IND 1468 3
120 Al Falahi Ziad Tarik Mohammad IRQ 1381 3
121 Binu Sebastian IND 1405 3
122 Hamad Bader UAE 1333 3
123 Mira Sarhan UAE 1273 3
124 Hind Faraj UAE 1275 3
125 Faraj Mariam UAE 1036 3
126 Lootah Feddah Mohamad UAE 1222 3
127 Atul Babu IND 0 3
128 Kinshuk Phalke IND 0 3
129 Singh Shiven UAE 0 3
130 Aisha Mohamed Al Muaini UAE 0 3
131 Soud Jaber UAE 0 3
132 Fatima Saif Al-Ali UAE 1182 3
133 Shahed Abu Qamar JOR 0 3
134 Arifdjanov Jafarbek UZB 0 3
135 Aaditya Hari Krishnan IND 1653 3
136 Sriram Venkatesan IND 0 3
137 Rashid Shaeri UAE 1383 3
138 Adityavi Swanathan IND 0 3
139 Karthik Praveen IND 0 3
140 Yap Jared David PHI 0 3
141 Khalil Hanan UAE 1048 3
142 Mira Husain Al Hammadi UAE 0 3
143 Essa Shahad UAE 0 3
144 Fatma Obaid UAE 1150 3
145 Nour Saleh Jasim UAE 1054 2,5
146 Dalvi Sharjeel FID 0 2,5
147 Saeed Marshool UAE 0 2,5
148 Ramchandani, Yash 0 2,5
149 Talal Mohammed Al Blooshi UAE 0 2,5
150 GM Kuljasevic Davorin CRO 2546 2
151 Kaltham Anwar UAE 0 2
152 CM Ihsan Jawad PLE 2088 2
153 Cruz Christopher PHI 1820 2
154 Shaikha Anwar UAE 1061 2
155 Ahlam Rashed UAE 0 2
156 Zayed Marshool UAE 0 2
157 Iyer Adwaita S. IND 0 2
158 Al Hosani Sara UAE 0 2
159 Kailas Shibu IND 0 2
160 Ahmed Aldorabi UAE 0 2
161 Vishal Choudary B IND 0 2
162 Karthik Sukumar Shibu IND 0 2
163 Ramesh, Saranya IND 0 2
164 Sadana, Apoorv IND 0 2
165 Gamage Ranasinghe Yuman R SRI 1107 2
166 Subramonya Iyer, Sanjana UAE 0 2
167 Marshool Abdullah UAE 0 2
168 Mohamed Eissa UAE 1853 1,5
169 Anood Ahmad UAE 0 1,5
170 Mohammad, Ahmed Yousef UAE 0 1
171 Alia Sarhan Al Muaini UAE 0 1
172 Ali Hassan, ALMARZOOQI UAE 0 1
173 Khezrian Neda IRI 0 1
174 Gangwani, Siddhant 0 1
175 Gharib Alia Ali UAE 1724 0
Noman Shaima UAE 1475 0
Nawaf Abdulrazzaq UAE 1059 0
Abdulghani Mohammad UAE 0 0
Abdulrazaq Suheel IRI 0 0
Sulaiman Abu Qamar JOR 0 0
181 Gupta, Chaitenya 0 0