Dubai: Come May 16, the Dubai Chess and Cultural Club will enter its 35th year since they were officially recognised as an independent entity as part of the UAE Chess Federation. This club, located out of Al Mamzar since 1999, has been nurturing talented players over the years and hosts some of the best tournaments - local and international.
With the best of facilities to play the sport, the club serves as the reservoir of top players for the UAE national team. Refusing to rest on the laurels, they are now planning to reach out to more players through innovative methods.
In an interview to Gulf News, Yahya Mohammad, Manager of Development and Planning of the Dubai Chess and Cultural Club speaks about the effort that this club has put in to be one of the finest sporting organisations in the UAE and their plans for the future. Mohammad, groomed by the club from the age of seven, went on to become an Arab Chess Champion in the Under-18 category and represented UAE from 1996 to 2009, and wants to reward his club with his best effort. Excerpts:
How did this club, which is now an internationally acclaimed one as of the best in the sport, make its presence felt?
Dubai Chess and Culture Club actually started in 1979 but it was a part the UAE Chess Federation. We had just one small room and those days there was no such thing as a chess club in Dubai. As the UAE Chess Federation was located here, all chess lovers used to visit the Federation. It was on May 16, 1981 when we were accepted officially by the supreme council for Youth and Sports.
How did you manage a building of your own and begin your activities?
We moved into into this building (in Mamzar) in May 1999. We were supported by Dubai government and Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, the honorary president of the club supported us on a regular basis. Without his support, we could not have reached where we are now. Today through this great facility we have promoted the sport in a big way and we are grateful to Shaikh Hamdan.
What are the activities of the club?
Our activities are year-long. Our training goes on round the year and we host many local and regional events. We host two main tournaments which are internationally recognised like the Dubai Open chess tournament, which just got over in April and Dubai Juniors, another top-notch tournament for the junior player under-14 years which will be held in August this year.
Today, our international events are so popular that players from no less than 40 countries compete in it. Magnus Carlsen, the reigning world champion, had played in the junior event in 2004. In fact, we have earned a reputation as a tournament known for discovering talented players.
Can you tell us a bit about the club’s ability to stage top-notch tournaments?
In terms of organisational ability our history goes far back to 1986 when we hosted the World Chess Olympiad, considered one of the biggest sporting events ever hosted in Dubai. Players from 109 countries participated in this tournament.
Chess played a major role at that time in promoting Dubai that is why we are getting continued support from the organizational level and also in terms of achievement. Our players too began to compete at the international level. For example, Saeed Ahmad Saeed won the World Youth Championship for Under-14 silver medal in 1979 in Mexico. He won the silver again in 1980 and went on to win the gold medal in 1981. He made us all proud winning six medals from world championships. Recently we even successfully hosted the World Blitz Championship.
What benefits can a player achieve as a member of this club?
What is unique about Dubai Chess Club is that it is like a one big family. Today you go to any entity, private or government sector you will find a Dubai Chess Club member. We are proud that two members of UAE Mars Mission Mohammad Eisa Al Abbar and Adnan Al Rais are members of Dubai Chess Club. They not only represented the club but the national team too. Our chess club members can be found in banks or any big organisation, they are all over the place.
Are there coaches to groom talent?
We have five top class coaches and one of them is Elmar Magerramov from Azerbaijan who has been in the club since 1994. He was coach of Gary Kasparov during the 1984 World Chess Championship. The other are all qualified by the FIDE (world chess federation) and are from Corotia, Bulgaria, Syria and Russia. So we have got different nationaliities who give training on a regular basis. We have a female trainer too and hence we are able to compete at different age levels and categories.
Do you fly in foreign coaches or any outstanding coaches?
Sometimes if we have a really talented player, we bring some coaches from overseas to sharpen or strengthen areas of their game as necessary. Different coaches have different styles and hence it is useful.
Does the club also train to become Arbiters?
Yes. We have Mahdi Abdul Rahim, who is one of the top arbiters in the world and Saeed Yousuf who is also part of the management team is a fine Arbiter.
How has been the sponsorship support for the club?
Sponsorship support varies from time to time. It was much easier to get support earlier because not many sporting events used to be held in Dubai. We had some major sponsors in 1986 like Apple, Lipton, Emirates airline and Dubai Muncipality.
Today, the Dubai sports calendar is packed every week and some companies support only specific sports like golf, tennis and cricket. However, we get sponsorship support locally and for Dubai Open we got support from Etisalat, Enoc and Axiom. We do have sponsors but due to the large number of sporting events now being held in Dubai, it is a big challenge to retain them.
Where does the Dubai Chess Club go from here ?
Our mission is to be leaders in the chess world. We are leaders in terms of organisation as we host top class top class tournaments. The new challenge for us is to produce more Emirati players at the international level and we want to attract them here.
