Giza Team sign off with facile victory

As expected, Giza Team of Egypt won the Arab Cities chess championship in style defending the title they won last year.

They won the title last year by beating Al Salth of Jordan 2.5-1.5 in the last round to increase their tally to 27.5 points.

The Egyptian domination was completed by Cairo Team, who finished second with 25.5 points following their 4-0 victory over Palestinian Ghaza. Baghdad fro-m Iraq came third with 23 points after defeating Al Khoms from Libya 4-0.

Dubai trounced their compatriot from Ajman 4-0 to take the fourth spot with 22.5 points, followed by Lebanon's Fernieshe-bakh, who came fifth with 21 points after beating Aden 3.5-0.5.

The hosts, Abu Dhabi shared the sixth place with four others – Sharjah, Al Salth,Toulka and Dali Ibrahim, both from Algeria – with 19 points.

They were followed by Ajman 17.5 points, Aden 17 points, Manama from Bahrain 15.5 points, Ghaza 9.5 points, Al Khoms 7.5 points and Al Quds from Palestine 6.5 points.

Ahmed Al Jindi and Khalid Mohammed from Giza, Belwadih Sayed from Toulka, Ziyad Janahi from Manama and Salih Abdullah from Aden won gold medals for the five tables of the competition.

Othman Moussa and Suhail Abdul Rahim from Dubai won sliver medals in their tables while Mohammed Hussain of Sharjah won a bronze medal on table five.

Egyptian Ahmed Adli won the under-16 championship after beating UAE's Ibrahim Ismail in a tough encounter to collect 8.5 points, followed by UAE's Abdullah Hassan, who finished second with eight points after defeating his countryman Aref Zainul in the last round.

Qatari Omar Al Marry and Iraqi Mazin Al Yas shared the third place with 5.5 points each after Al Marry drew with UAE's Abdullah Al Taher, while Al Yas defeated Palestinian Razy Yaagoob.

Basim Ameen of Egypt won the under-14 category despite finishing with the same tally of seven points with Qatari Ghanim Al Sulaitti, but Ameen won after applying the Swiss Tie Breaking system.

UAE's Yahya Mohammed Salih came third with six points after beating Lebanese Mohammed Hani in the last round.

Former leader Faisal Al Samhouri from Jordan shared the fourth place with Tunisian Ameer Al Zaaybi and Fouad Muflih from Yemen with 5.5 points each.

The Abu Dhabi Chess and Culture Club, who organised the event, will again be busy today as they open the Annual Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival with the cooperation of the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation.