Dubai Chess Club bags excellence award

Dubai: The Dubai Chess and Culture Club has received the award of excellence for 2015 from the UAE Chess Federation. They were picked for this special award due to their impressive achievements and their efforts to promote chess and provide world-class training to the youth.

Speaking to Gulf News, Ebrahim Al Bannai, Chairman of Dubai Chess and Culture Club, said: “We are not going to rest on our success. We are holding a series of meetings and our board has formulated a strategic roadmap till the year 2020 to be in line with the strategic plan of the Dubai Sports Council, which has been a prime mover in the development of sport and in promoting Dubai as a world-class sporting distance.”

Al Bannai strongly believes that the award has come to the club’s strong commitment towards excellence and our innovative approach in training and developing chess talents in the emirate.

“Our players have reaped awards in team and individual championships from local to international tournaments. This was instrumental in the club’s unparalleled success last year. The coaching staff for providing the best possible training to the club’s elite players as well as students of its chess school deserves to be lauded.”

Al Bannai went on to dedicate the club’s success to the leadership of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council and Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance and patron of the chess movement in Dubai.

“We have brought in top-flight coaches from around the world, used state-of-the-art technology in chess training to improve the quality of training. Our club’s Board of Directors believes that a scientific approach is the only way to ensure the maximum impact of chess on the academic and personal development of students. Two years ago we opened a chess academy to tap the expertise of world-class coaches, Grandmasters and specialists to develop a modern program for chess training and player development. Apart from its own chess academy, the club also reaches out to various schools, child development centres and even companies to provide more specialised chess training for children,” added Al Bannai.

Najib Mohammad Saleh, Technical and Coaching Director, said the players who have won laurels during the past year epitomise the club’s mission of promoting chess excellence, and which has been validated by the excellence award for 2015. “The key achievers in 2015 were Fide Master (FM) Saeed Ishaq, who achieved a rare hat trick by winning the UAE President’s Cup, National Men’s Chess Championship and UAE Blitz Chess Championship, Woman International Master (WIM) Amna Nouman, who led Dubai to win the UAE National Women’s Team Championship, Ahmad Fareed, who won a silver medal in the Under-18 category of the first Arab Chess Olympiad and a silver medal on second board at the Asian Cities Chess Championship – Dubai Cup, and Ali Abdul Aziz Al Fahim, who won the gold medal on board four at the Asian Cities Championship,” said Najib.