Two players shared the lead at the end of the seventh round of the President's Cup chess tournament held at the Dubai Chess Club.
Abdullah Hassan and Jassim A.R. Saleh attained crucial victories to take their tally to six points. Taleb Moussa was second with 5.5 points after a win over Nabil Mohemed Saleh. Nagueb Saleh, Saud Mohammed, Yahaya Saleh and Faisal Keswani were third with 5 points.
Abdullah and Jassim have emerged as favorites with two rounds remaining. Abdullah scored an important win over Saud in a queen pawn opening where the queens were exchanged in the early middle game.
Saud held an edge with his active minor pieces in centre, but misplayed the endgame and was outplayed in time pressure. Jassim was involved in a marathon battle against Mohammed Hossien in a queen pawn opening and after intense regrouping of his forces Jassim won with a brilliant tactical skirmish in the queenside.
Taleb Moussa was locked in a tactical battle in the queen pawn opening. Taleb exploited his opponent's time pressure and clinched the issue with decisive threats.
Results (round seven):1 Saud, Mohammed (5) - Hassan, Abdul (5) 7- 3 0-1; 2 Jasim, A.R.Saleh (5) - Mohammed, Hossein (4.5) 4- 5 1-0; 3 Saleh, Nabil (4.5) - Taleb, Moussa (4.5) 2- 1 0-1; 4 Saleh, Nagueb (4) - Ibrahim, Ismail (4) 6- 14 1-0; 5 Yahya, Mohammed Saleh (4) - Ali, Hassan Tahir (4) 17- 11 1-0; 6 Faisel, Kashwani (4) - Salem, A.R.Saleh (4) 12- 26 1-0; 7 Mansour Abbas (3.5) - Al-Khaja, Arif (3.5) 36- 10 _ - _; 8 Saeed, Majed (3.5) and Khalil, Ibrahim (3.5) did not play; 9 Marwan Abdulwahab (3.5) - Abdullah, Mohammed Sale (3) 37- 22 1-0; 10 Hamad Abdul Razzaq (3) - Faisal Mohammed Saleh (3) 32- 31 1-0.
Gulf News 2003
