Dubai: Grandmaster (GM) Walter Rodriguez Arencibia swept all his matches to rule the Dubai Chess and Culture Club November Blitz Chess Tournament on Friday night.
The Cuban chess coach defeated Syria’s Talal Hilwani in the final round to complete his domination of the 134-player, nine-round tournament.
Marlon Mortel, who pulled off a big surprise to win the October rapid event ahead of Arencibia, continued to show good form with a second-place finish. The Filipino outplayed Fide Master (FM) Ahmad Abbas Khouri in the final round to hike his tally to eight points.
FM Saeed Ishaq took the third spot with 7.5 points following a victory over Syria’s Okla Sohib in round nine.
International Master (IM) Sultan Ebrahim also received a special prize as the tournament’s best Dubai player.
Arencibia received the championship cup from Najib Saleh, Club’s Technical Director during the awarding ceremony. The winners also received cash prizes.
Players from 17 countries took part in the tournament. Apart from providing tournament exposure to local players, Saleh said the event also attracted a number of participants from overseas. He said this is part of the club's strategy to organise monthly tournaments that promote chess as a social activity among residents and visitors.
The monthly tournaments also serve as a training ground for new arbiters and organisers under the guidance of veteran International Arbiters (IA) Mahdi Abdulrahim and Saeed Yousuf.
The club will next host the UAE 45th National Day Rapid Chess Tournament on November 30 to December 2.
