Dubai: Libya’s Ali Mejbri, the lowest-ranked player in the third Arab Elite Chess Championships, pulled off an upset by beating eighth seed Ahmad Abdul Wahab of Iraq in 35 moves in the opening round at Dubai Chess and Culture Club on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, top seed Grandmaster (GM) Bassam Amin of Egypt beat ninth-seeded international master (IM) Abdul Aziz Onkoud of Morocco in 38 moves.
Second seed GM Salam Abdul Rahman Salah of the UAE beat compatriot Fide master (FM) Saeed Ishaq in 52 moves.
Third seed GM Mohammad Al Sayed of Qatar and fourth seed GM Mohammad Haddouche of Algeria also joined the early leaders, with 32-move victories over 11th seed candidate master (CM) Ahmad Abu Zeid of Sudan and 12th seed FM Hussain Ayyad of Bahrain respectively.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s sixth seed IM Basheer Al Qudaimi beat Oman’s Ali Shamas Salim Eisa in 36 moves.
Also posting first round victories were Jordan’s IM Sami Khader, who beat Saudi Arabia’s Hamoud Al Nhier in 25 moves and FM Amir Zaibi of Tunisia, who beat Abdul Sharabaty of Palestine in 29 moves.
The opening ceremony was attended by senior sports officials led by Khalid Al Midfa, assistant secretary-general of the General Authority for Youth and Sports Welfare, Ebrahim Al Bannai, president of the Arab Chess Federation (ACF), Yusri Al Dali vice president of the ACF and president of the Tunisian League for Chess, and Ahmad Khalifa Al Thani, secretary general of the ACF.
Tournament director Mohammad Al Hussaini welcomed the participants and guests and relayed a message from International Chess Federation (Fide) President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.
The tournament offers a total cash purse of $20,000 (Dh73,000), with $8,000 and the Kirsan Ilyumzhinov Cup going to the champion.
