Al Giza Team begin on a winning note

Defending champions and favourites Al Giza Team from Egypt opened their account in the Arab Cities chess championship in style, beating Ajman of the UAE 4-0 in the first round.

Al Giza represented by Esam Ahmed Najeeb, Khalid Mohamm-ed Abdul Razig, Sayed Barakat, Esam Ali Ahmed and Mohammed Mahmoud led the competition with four points after beating Ajman, represented by Hussaim Mohammed Hussain, Ali Shaheen, Marwan Abdul Wahab, Khalid Al Shaali and Saif Hassan.

The event is being staged at the Khalidiya Palace Hotel, here. It is being held under the patronage of Major General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Undersecretary of Ministry of Interior.

Dubai and Cairo shared the second spot with 3.5 points each. Dubai defeated Manama from Bahrain by winning three matches and tieing one. Cairo duplicated the same result against Jordan's Al Salth.

Talib Moussa and his brother Othman, in addition to Najeeb Mohammed Salih and his brother Nabil and Suhail Abdul Rahim played for Dubai. Cairo were represented by Walaa Abdul Khalig, Ahmed Yahya Mohammed, Majdi George, Ashraf Ahmed Ameen and Hamed Mohammed Ismail.

Sharjah beat Al Khoms from Libya 3-1 with Abdul Majeed Mohammed Ali, Soud Mohammed Ahmed, Jassim Abdul Rahman, Mohammed Al Taher and Moha-mmed Hussain representing the winners.

Sharjah share the third place with Baghdad who defeated Aden, Firnashbakh from Leban-on, who beat Dali Ibrahim of Algeria and Toulka of Algeria, who defeated Gaza of Palestine.

The only draw was recorded by hosts Abu Dhabi with Al Quds of Palestine. The two teams shared four points.

In the second round, Al Giza will face Dubai in an early final of the championship as the two teams are the favourites to win the title.

Baghdad will play against Cairo, Sharjah will meet Firnashabakh, Abu Dhabi will face Toulka, Aden will take on Al Quds, Dali Ibrahim will match wits against Al Khoms, Gaza will play against Manama and Ajman will face Al Salth.

Five players share the lead in the under-14 championship with one point.

This includes the favourite Egypt's Basim Amin, who beat Fouad Moflih of Yemen, Mohammed Al Samhouri of Jordan defeated Bahrain's Khalaf Bu Khalaf, Qatar's Ghanim Al Sulaitti overcame UAE's Mahmoud Ibrahim, Iraqi Abdullah Mohsin prevailed over Mohammed Al Khars of Palestine and UAE's Ahmed Ishag beat Mohammed Migati of Lebanon.

UAE's Yahya Mohammed Salih drew with Tunisian Ameer Al Zaaybi. The two players split a single point. In the second round, Basim will face Ishag and Al Sulaitti will play against Al Samhouri.

Defending champion Egypt's Ahmed Adli began his quest to retain the under-16 title by beating UAE's Abdullah Al Taher.

UAE's Abdullah Hassan defeated Bahrain's Amin Abdul Jalil and Aref Zainul beat Philip Nicholas of Lebanon, Iraqi Ihab Mazin overcame Hussain Salih of Yemen and Qatari Omar Al Marri quelled the challenge of Ramzi Yaagoub of Palestine to share the lead with one point each.

UAE's Ibrahim Al Muhairy drew with Tunisian Zubair Al Ammoni. Adli will face Zainul in the second round while Abdulla will play against Mazin.

The championship is being sponsored by ADNOC FOD, Damas Jewellery. The co-sponsors are Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, ADNOC, ADMA, ADCO, ZADCO, JASCO, Shamma Jewe-llery and Subha for Publishing and Gifts.