Ibrahim Al Bannai. |
"We are delighted with the success of this event and it has given us the confidence to host bigger events here," remarked Ibrahim Al Bannai, President of the Arab Chess Federation to the Gulf News.
"There are plans to have a strong all-Arab team comprising the best players from this region and play against a World team. I will be discussing this at the Fide executive committee meeting," Al Bannai added.
"Chess is getting popular in the UAE and we want to give our chess lovers more opportunities to watch top class players in action.
"It is also important to give the players from this region more opportunities to play against top international players," felt Al Bannai.
In 1986, the UAE had successfully staged the Dubai Olympiad and won a lot of praise from international players and officials.
"We will be discussing our plans during the next Arab Chess Federation executive committee meeting scheduled to be held in Syria. The meeting will draw out a calendar of oncoming events for this region," he informed
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi has been selected as the venue for staging of the Arab Cities Chess Championship.
"This championship will be staged in August this year, and we are expecting nearly 40 countries to participate," revealed Al Bannai.
Cairo had staged the Asian Cities Chess Championship last year.
Abu Dhabi will also be the venue for an international juniors event. "An Under 10-14 event is being planned. This will be a big impetus for the junior chess players in the UAE," Al Bannai feels.
Some more important decisions pertaining to the development of chess in the region are likely to be taken at the general body meeting of the Arab Chess Federation to be held in Morocco this September.
Four players from this region participated in the recent UAE Grand Prix. They were UAE's Othman Moussa, Taleb Moussa and Salem Jasim and Qatar's Mohammed Al Modiahki.
