Dubai: Emirati Grandmaster Saleh A.R. Salem, who emerged as the champion in the Asian Continental Chess Championship in Al Ain, hailed Al Ain as a ‘lucky venue’ for him.
Salem ensured the Asian Continental Chess Championship crown with an 11-move draw with GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi of India at the Hilton Hotel on Monday.
“Al Ain is a very good venue for me. I have very nice memories. I won a tournament in 2007 – Asian Championships Under-14 event. Last year, I also won the Rapid tournament here. I like to play here,” remarked Salem, who was seeded 11th at the start of this 32-nation tournament.
Expressing his delight over winning a tournament which had such a strong field, Salem said: “It was a very tough tournament and I was not expecting to win this tournament. I am now really happy,” added Salem.
On the way to victory, Salem beat IMr M. S. Nitin of India, drew with Xu Yinglun of China, beat IM Asyl Abdyjapar of Kyrgyzstan, lost to IM Lin Chen of China and won four straight rounds against Liu Chang of China, Indian GM Vishnu Parsanna, Indian national champion S.P. Sethuraman and second seed Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam before his last round draw with Gujrathi.
For Salem, it was his first win in a major Asian Championship after his win as a youngster in the Under-14 event. “I had finished sixth in Asian Continental Championship in 2014 and third in the 2013 event. I qualified to the World Cup twice already, but this is my first time that I have become an Asian Continental Champion,” he said.
Salem knew that he would need only a draw to emerge the champion when he played Gujrathi. “My coach had told me yesterday about the situation. It was obvious that I would need only a draw to get the gold medal. So, I decided not to take any risk. I have played so many games like this before and since a draw only was enough, I played accordingly. Even if Ganguly or Gupta would win, I would be still ahead by tie-breaks. First definition is by direct encounter and second is by more number of wins. So, I won more games than them.
“I will participate in the Abu Dhabi Masters now and after that I will play in the World Cup. Actually I was already qualified for World Cup before the Asian Continental Championship,” he added.
Salem revealed that his sessions with GM Alexei Dreev and coach GM Ivan Sokolov also played a role in his success.
