First Emirati to win the championship in 12 years
GM Salem Saleh – The first Emirati to win the tournament in twelve years
Dubai, UAE – The UAE’s Grandmaster GM Salem A.R. Saleh reaffirmed his place among the world’s elite grandmasters after winning 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, only needed a draw with sixth-seed GM Ulvi Bajarani of Azerbaijan in the final round to seal his claim to the championship with eight points.
Saleh, the first Emirati to win the 12-year-old tournament, received his prize from Ahmed Khalifa Al Thani, Secretary General of the Arab Chess Federation and Vice-Chairman of the Dubai Chess and Culture Club, Jamal Al Abdooli, General Secretary of the club, and Mohammed Al Husseini, Managing Director of the club. The awarding ceremony was held right after the final round on Thursday.
Four players had 7.5 points each to tie for the second to fifth places. Fifth-seed GM Elmar Magerramov of Azerbaijan, one of the instructors at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club chess school, had the best tiebreak score to claim the second-place prize, followed by third-seed GM Viktor Moskalenko of Spain, seventh-seed Talal Hilwani of Syria and top-seed GM Ivan Sokolov of the Netherlands.
Magerramov drew his match with Talal, while Sokolov, who is the UAE national team coach, outlasted ninth-seed International Master (IM) Mehrshad Sharif of France. Moskalenko escaped the upset ax against 13th-seed Jobannie C. Tabada of the Philippines after the Filipino misplayed a strategically won position and then missed a simple tactical sequence by the Spaniard to concede the point.
Bajarani had the highest tiebreak score among seven players with seven points apiece to secure the sixth spot. He was followed by Sudan’s Haitham Mahmoud, the UAE’s Fide Master (FM) Nabil Saleh, Syria’s Abdul Kader Raes, Lebanon’s FM Abdo Somoff, the UAE’s Abdulwahab Abdulla and Syria’s Okla Sohib. However, only the top ten players based on tiebreak received cash prizes.
Mehrshad and Tabada remained at 6.5 points to share 13th to 18th places.
Abdulwahab Abdulla from Ajman received the award as the best UAE player, whle Aysha Jehad won the top UAE lady award. Abdullah Ali and the Yasmin Ali also received awards for being the top male and female from Dubai Chess and Culture Club.
Ahmed Khalifa Al Thani said Salem Saleh’s record as the first Emirati to win the championship underlines the significant strides of the UAE in its chess program. Moreover, he said Saleh’s excellent performance will further invigorate the local chess scene and inspire the UAE’s up-and-coming players to excel in the sport.
He said the tournament has been organized for the past 12 years in honor of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Founding President of the UAE, and will thus remain one of the elite chess tournaments organized during Ramadan. He also thanked the various institutions that have supported the event through the years, including the UAE Chess Federation.
The nine-round Swiss system tournament allowed each player 15 minutes plus a three-second increment per move to complete a game. International Arbiter (IA) Saeed Yousuf Shakari was the tournament director, while IA Mahdi Abdulrahim was the chief arbiter. A total of 181 players signed up for the tournament.
Final standings:
1 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2607 8
2 GM Magerramov Elmar AZE 2516 7,5
3 GM Moskalenko Viktor ESP 2547 7,5
4 Hilwani Talal SYR 2404 7,5
5 GM Sokolov Ivan NED 2621 7,5
6 GM Bajarani Ulvi AZE 2476 7
7 Mahmoud Haitham SUD 1986 7
8 FM Saleh Nabil UAE 2249 7
9 Raes Abdul Kader SYR 2194 7
10 FM Somoff Abdo LIB 1999 7
11 Abdulla Abdulwahab UAE 1932 7
12 Sohib Okla SYR 2173 7
13 IM Sharif Mehrshad FRA 2375 6,5
14 IM Farahat Ali EGY 2375 6,5
15 FM Zemtsov Roman RUS 2301 6,5
Matutina Mark PHI 2036 6,5
17 Tabada Jobannie C. PHI 2210 6,5
18 Ronald Pernez PHI 1513 6,5
19 FM Molina Antonio PHI 2088 6
20 Yap Ernesto M. PHI 2067 6
Manjunath J. IND 2010 6
22 CM Haridas K. IND 2035 6
23 Ashraf Ahmed Ramadan EGY 1871 6
24 Abdulla Ali UAE 1719 6
25 Marcos Marvin PHI 2115 6
26 Ermachkov Sergey RUS 2178 6
27 Murad Abdulla UAE 1764 6
Mosallam Mohammad UAE 1523 6
29 Alterado Israel Franklin PHI 0 6
30 Perez Richard PHI 1756 6
Abdulla Shaeri UAE 1620 6
32 Saif Ahmed UAE 1370 6
33 Shahzad Asif PAK 1703 6
34 Paul Emerson Gicale PHI 1632 6
35 Hamdan Marshool UAE 1799 5,5
36 Sameir Ramez EGY 2011 5,5
37 CM Saleh Nagueb UAE 2211 5,5
38 Ahmed Fareed UAE 1891 5,5
39 Nowroozian Nader IRI 1651 5,5
Jamal Amin Omer UAE 1552 5,5
41 Hamad Abdul Razzaq UAE 1891 5,5
42 Majed Ali Abdouli UAE 1700 5,5
43 Mohammed Shereef M V IND 1751 5,5
44 Abd Alhafeez Mohamed Ahmed SUD 1855 5,5
45 Rajesh Vasanthakumar IND 1530 5,5
46 Ganesan, Ramesh 0 5,5
47 Boshara Mohammed Ahmed SUD 1815 5
Irfan S IND 1726 5
49 Hesham Saleem Shalol IRQ 1900 5
50 Dhyaa A. K. Al-Sandooq IRQ 1734 5
Sultan Fareed UAE 1540 5
Johny P IND 1959 5
53 FM Elmejbri Ali A. LBA 1936 5
54 Solano Rayjan PHI 1689 5
55 Harikrishnan Samyuktha IND 1549 5
Hamad Essam UAE 1361 5
57 Jehad Aysha UAE 1552 5
58 Faisal Ali UAE 1532 5
SANTHOSH PURUSHOTHAMAN IND 2017 5
60 Shareef Ahmad Siddiqui IND 1615 5
61 Mahmoud Ahmed UAE 1744 5
Naidu Harish IND 1472 5
63 Talal Al-Hammadi UAE 1643 5
Rameshwar Chaturvedi FID 0 5
65 Mohamed Marshool UAE 1668 5
66 Arun Hariharan C.R. IND 2036 5
67 Omar Mohammad Al Taher UAE 1455 5
Alur Varun IND 1344 5
69 WIM Saleh Nora Mohd UAE 1860 5
70 Yasmin Ali UAE 1399 5
71 Salem Ahmed Salem UAE 1575 5
Abou Ghazi Aiman SYR 1588 5
73 Ali Abdulaziz UAE 1736 5
74 Abdulrahman Mohammad Al Taher UAE 1354 5
75 Abdulaziz Saleh UAE 1204 5
76 Mohammed Ghalia UAE 1296 5
77 Vasanth Kumaran Ganesan IND 0 5
78 Sasikumar Anusweud IND 1888 4,5
79 Khezrian Mohammad USA 1517 4,5
80 Kumar Ayanesh IND 0 4,5
81 Madduri Satya Tejeswar IND 0 4,5
82 Rahul Raghuveer IND 1514 4,5
83 Mridul Thaivalappil M. IND 1337 4,5
84 Sai Krishna Suresh Kumar IND 1329 4,5
85 Al-Mallahi Dawood UAE 1539 4,5
Hamdan Saeed Ali UAE 1127 4,5
Devnani Kush IND 0 4,5
88 Tellefsen Jan NOR 0 4,5
89 Danilo Reyes G. PHI 0 4,5
90 Raji Sayel Abu Azizah PLE 1054 4,5
91 Naik Atharv IND 1279 4,5
92 Hamed Ahmed Yousef UAE 1438 4,5
93 Almaini Aishah Sarhan UAE 1308 4,5
94 Mathew George IND 0 4,5
95 Wahdani Mahmood Abdulla IRI 0 4,5
96 Abeer Ali UAE 1572 4
97 Ebrahim Ahmed Ebrahim UAE 1202 4
98 Khaled Ahmed Y. UAE 1657 4
99 Fawwaz Mohammed IND 1298 4
100 Al-Hammadi Maryam Hussein UAE 1295 4
101 Rodha Faraj UAE 1258 4
102 Zayed Sultan Al Taher UAE 1115 4
103 Vasanthakumar N IND 1468 4
104 Al Ali Aisha Saif UAE 1503 4
Abdulrahim Salem UAE 1305 4
Abdulla Aref UAE 0 4
107 Hamad Bader UAE 1333 4
108 Mira Sarhan UAE 1273 4
109 Hind Faraj UAE 1275 4
Khalil Reem UAE 1083 4
111 Jawaher Khalil UAE 1276 4
Atul Babu IND 0 4
113 Khezrian Nooralzahra IRI 1155 4
114 Aaditya Hari Krishnan IND 1653 4
115 Alia Ali UAE 1315 4
Yap Jared David PHI 0 4
117 Rashid Shaeri UAE 1383 4
Fatima Saif Al-Ali UAE 1182 4
Kinshuk Phalke IND 0 4
120 Khalil Hanan UAE 1048 4
121 Fatma Obaid UAE 1150 4
122 Dimarucut Francis Erwin PHI 2118 3,5
123 Aditya Vijay Kumar IND 1413 3,5
124 Ali Sayel Abu Azizah PLE 0 3,5
125 Rayan Mohammad Ali Hassan UAE 1207 3,5
Nour Saleh Jasim UAE 1054 3,5
127 Saeed Rashed UAE 1326 3,5
128 Saeed Marshool UAE 0 3,5
129 Yap Jediael Ernest Parson PHI 0 3,5
130 Al-Hammadi Manal Hussein UAE 1193 3,5
131 Talal Mohammed Al Blooshi UAE 0 3,5
132 Abdulghafoor Rashed UAE 1542 3
133 Binu Sebastian IND 1405 3
134 Lootah Feddah Mohamad UAE 1222 3
Khalifa Essa Albalooshi UAE 0 3
136 Al Falahi Ziad Tarik Mohammad IRQ 1381 3
137 Singh Shiven UAE 0 3
138 Soud Jaber UAE 0 3
139 Shahed Abu Qamar JOR 0 3
140 Faraj Mariam UAE 1036 3
Aisha Mohamed Al Muaini UAE 0 3
142 Sriram Venkatesan IND 0 3
143 Arifdjanov Jafarbek UZB 0 3
144 Iyer Adwaita S. IND 0 3
145 Karthik Praveen IND 0 3
146 Ahlam Rashed UAE 0 3
Mira Husain Al Hammadi UAE 0 3
148 Essa Shahad UAE 0 3
149 Vishal Choudary B IND 0 3
150 Adityavi Swanathan IND 0 3
151 Shaikha Anwar UAE 1061 3
Ahmed Aldorabi UAE 0 3
153 Sadana, Apoorv IND 0 3
154 Ramesh, Saranya IND 0 3
155 Subramonya Iyer, Sanjana UAE 0 3
156 Dalvi Sharjeel FID 0 2,5
157 Ramchandani, Yash 0 2,5
158 GM Kuljasevic Davorin CRO 2546 2
159 Kaltham Anwar UAE 0 2
160 CM Ihsan Jawad PLE 2088 2
161 Cruz Christopher PHI 1820 2
162 Zayed Marshool UAE 0 2
163 Kailas Shibu IND 0 2
164 Al Hosani Sara UAE 0 2
165 Alia Sarhan Al Muaini UAE 0 2
166 Karthik Sukumar Shibu IND 0 2
167 Gamage Ranasinghe Yuman R SRI 1107 2
168 Marshool Abdullah UAE 0 2
169 Mohamed Eissa UAE 1853 1,5
170 Anood Ahmad UAE 0 1,5
171 Khezrian Neda IRI 0 1
172 Ali Hassan, ALMARZOOQI UAE 0 1
Mohammad, Ahmed Yousef UAE 0 1
174 Gangwani, Siddhant 0 1
Gupta, Chaitenya 0 1
176 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