Bassem clinches Arab chess championship

Seventeen-year-old International master Amin Bassem of Egypt earned his Grandmaster norm when he won the Arab Chess Championship title in Dubai.

Bassem was relieved to have come out successful and gained the important GM norm. The teenager annexed the title with 6.5 points with a draw against his teammate Grandmaster Ahmad Adly of Egypt.

Mahdi Abdul Rahim, Senior Arbiter of the UAE and technical Manager of Arab Chess Federation said: "The Grandmaster norm is approved by FIDE world chess association for the winner of Arab championship."

Five players tied for second place with 6 points as the 9th and final round produced dramatic results.

IM Al Sayed Mohammad Nasser (Qatar), IM El Taher Fouad (Egypt), GM Adly Ahmad (Egypt), GM Taleb Moussa (UAE) and GM Belkhodia Slim (Tunisia) tied for the silver medal.

The women's title was won convincingly by Women's International Master Eman Al Rufei Eman of Iraq who scored 8 points.

WIM Mouradian Knarik of Lebanon was runner-up with 7 points.

A quick draw in the final round with Mona Khalid of Egypt gave Al Rufei the championship.

She remarked: "I am winning the tournament for the third time and my match with Mouradian Knarik was the most crucial."

Results
Men:
1 Adly Ahmed (6) drew with Amin Bassem (6.5)
2 Al Sayed Mohamad N (6) lost to Hakki Imad (5.5)
3 Al-Hadarani Hatim (4.5) lost to Taleb Moussa (6)
4 Mohammad Samir (4.5) lost to Belkhodja Slim (6)
5 El Taher Fouad (6) bt Khader Sami (4.5)
6 Othman A Moussa (4.5) drew with Tissir Mohamed (5)
7 Najjar Ahmad (4) drew with Bouaziz Mehdi (4.5)
8 Hassan Abdullah (4.5) bt Hussein N A (3.5)
9 Al-Hageri Badr (3) bt Henni Mohamed (3.5)
10 Ayyad Maher (4) drew with Bengafer Moh (2)
11 Jasim A R Saleh (4) bt Ali Obay (1)

Women:
1 Mona Khaled (6) drew with Al-Rufei Eman H (8)
2 Mouradian Knarik (7) drew with Mir Mahmoud Afamia (5.5)
3 Bahji Hind (6) bt Juma Jamila (4.5)
4 Ibrahim Delbak (4.5) lost to Saleh Nora Mohd (5.5)
5 Al-Harmoudi Mona (4.5) drew with Algildah Nibal (4.5)
6 Toubal Hayat (5) bt Al-Najjar Hoda (4)
7 Abdulsalam Nadhmiya (4) bt Salem Amna (4)
8 Basil Ziana (4.5) bt Al-Ghasra Dalal (2.5)
9 Fuad Natalie (4.5) bt Al-Hassan Tissir (0.5)
10 Al-Naimat Rayah (1.5) drew with Malallah Khadeja (3.5)