Dubai: Fide Master Saeed Ishaq stunned fourth-seeded Algerian Grandmaster (GM) Mohammad Haddouche to move within half a point of the leaders after the fourth round of the 3rd Arab Elite Chess Championship – Kirsan Ilyumzhinov Cup at the Shaikh Saeed Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Hall of the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.

Ishaq, who is in search of a GM norm, deployed the Sicilian Defence in a 43-move win over the Algerian, who embarked on a dubious queen hunt that ultimately backfired in the face of the tenth-seeded UAE player’s well-coordinated and more active pieces. Haddouche sacrificed two pawns to lure Ishaq’s queen into the white lair, but the Algerian underestimated the activity of black’s pieces in a forced line that resulted in black giving up his queen for a rook, knight and three pawns.

The Emirati’s tight central grip and more active pieces eventually decided the outcome as Haddouche was unable to prevent black’s e and d pawns from rolling down the centre. Ishaq, who plays for the Dubai Chess and Culture Club, swelled his tally to three points, half a point behind joint leaders GM Bassem Ameen of Egypt and GM Mohammad Al Syed of Qatar, who had a less eventful fourth-round encounter that ended in a draw in 30 moves.

Also with three points is International Master (IM) Basheer Al Qudaimi, who is part of the coaching staff of the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. Al Qudaimi repulsed the Bishop Opening of Iraqi FM Ahmad Abdul Sattar Abdul Wahhab with a crushing king-side attack to win in 32 moves.

Second-seed GM Salem A.R. Saleh of the UAE moved up to joint fifth with 2.5 points after a clinical win over Candidate Master (CM) Ahmad Abuzied of Sudan. The game lasted 80 moves, although the Emirati already had a winning position as early as move 20. FM Amir Zaibi of Tunisia also has 2.5 points after being gifted a point by Moroccan IM Abdul Aziz Onkoud, who had built a huge winning advantage in an English Opening encounter until a fatal blunder on the 45th move handed all the trumps to the Tunisian player, forcing Onkoud to resign seven moves later.

Ishaq will go up against Ameen, while Al Qudaimi will take on Al Syed at the top two boards in the fifth round. Saleh will meet Haddouche on board three.

FM Ayyad Husain of Bahrain leads a group of players with two points after he took down the other IM in the tournament, Jordanian Sami Khader, who resigned on the 36th move after being completely outplayed in the middlegame of a Modern Benoni Defence.

Other results saw Ali Shamas Salim Eisa of Oman score his first win in the tournament, beating FM Ali A. Al Mejbri of Libya in a protracted encounter wherein the Libyan threw away a sizeable advantage in the endgame and then pushed his luck too far trying to win an otherwise drawish position. Eisa, who now has 1.5 points, won in 89 moves.

FM Hamoud Al Nhier of Saudi Arabia likewise picked up his first full point after outplaying Palestine’s Abdul Kadei Sharabaty in an English Opening en route to a 51-move win.