FM Khalifa Khamis of the UAE emerged the sole leader in the under-16 category at the end of the eighth and penultimate round of the UAE junior Open Chess Tournament.
Khamis leads with 7 points from FM Salem A.R. Saleh of UAE who is in second spot with 6.5 points. Marwan Abdul Wahab of UAE lost his game against Salem and is in the third spot with 6 points.
Khamis is the front-runner for the title, requiring half-a-point from the final round. Axel John Valerio of the Philippines drew his game against Mustafa Abdul Wahab of UAE and remained at the top of the table with 7 points in the under-12 category.
Results (Round 8, top-10 only):
Under-16: 1. Salem Abdul Rahman (6.5) bt Marwan Abdul Wahab (6); 2. Mohammad Nasser (5) lost to Khalifa Khamis (7); 3. Waleed Yousuf (5) drew with Abdulmalek Abdulnor (5.5); 4. Omar Abdul Wahab (5) drew with Majid Ahmad Obaid (5); 5. Alya Ali (4) lost to Ali Khamis (5).
Under-12: 1. Mustafa Abdul Wahab (6) drew with Axel John (7); 2. Yousif Nasser (5.5) lost to Amal Abdulaziz (6.5); 3. Vishnu Vijay (6.5) bt Omar Mohammad Ahmad (5); 4. Fatima Abdul Gani (5) lost to Fahed Mohammad Ali (6); 5. Sudarshan Surya (6) bt Abdullah Morad (4.5).
