Dubai: Qatari Grandmaster (GM) Mohammad Al Syed held on to the lead by the slimmest of margins after he settled for an uneventful draw with the UAE’s Fide Master (FM) Saeed Ishaq in Monday night’s seventh round of the 3rd Arab Elite Chess Championship at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.
The Emirati’s tendency to get into serious time trouble came to the fore again as the clock ticked away while he tried to find a way to consolidate the advantage he had built. With less than ten minutes left on his clock, Ishaq decided to let the tournament leader off the hook and agreed to a draw.
Al Syed stays at the top of the standings with six points, half a point ahead of top seed GM Bassem Ameen of Egypt, who nearly squandered a sizeable advantage before his Tunisian opponent, FM Amir Zaibi, self-destructed with a catastrophic endgame blunder.
Ishaq, who is looking to secure a GM norm at the event, maintained his hold on fourth spot with 4.5 points.
Second seed GM Salem A.R. Saleh of the UAE failed to keep up the pressure on Al Syed as he was held to a draw by International Master (IM) Basheer Al Qudaimi of Yemen.
Saleh, who climbed to second place in the previous round on the strength of three straight wins, dropped to third place with five points. Al Qudaimi has four points and shares fifth place with Moroccan IM Abdul Aziz Onkoud, who was also held to a draw by Sudan’s Candidate Master (CM) Ahmad Abu Zeid.
Meanwhile, fourth seed GM Mohammad Haddouche of Algeria rediscovered his winning touch after being limited to just half a point in his previous four games, beating Saudi Arabia’s FM Hamoud Al Nhier in 37 moves.
IM Sami Khader of Jordan rebounded from a loss in the previous round with a win over Libya’s FM Ali A. Al Mejbri. FM Husain Ayyad of Bahrain beat Palestine’s Abdul Kadei Sharabaty, while FM Ahmad Abdul Sattar Abdul Wahhab of Iraq and Oman’s Ali Shamas Salim Eisa played out a draw.
Al Syed will have the black pieces against Onkoud at the top board in the eighth round, while Ameen and Saleh will have relatively easy assignments in 11th seed Abu Zeid and 14th seed Al Nhier respectively. Ishaq will continue his quest for a GM norm as he meets Al Qudaimi on board four.
Meanwhile, International Chess Federation (Fide) Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos met with Arab Chess Federation President and Dubai Chess and Culture Club Chairman Ebrahim Al Bannai and Ahmad Khalifa Al Thani, Vice-President of the Dubai Chess and Culture Club, on the sidelines of the seventh round matches.
They discussed plans for collaboration between members of the Arab Chess Federation and other federations around the world. Khalifa Mohammad Al Hitmi, President of the Qatar Chess Federation and member of the Fide Presidential Board, also visited the tournament and met with Al Bannai.
It was also announced that Fide President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov would arrive from Moscow on Wednesday morning to give away the prizes to the winners during the awards ceremony. He will be joined by Makropoulos, Fide CEO Jeffrey Borg and senior sports officials in the UAE, including representatives from the Dubai Sports Council.
