Salem A.R. Saleh maintains lead in Dubai chess tournament

Thursday, Jun 25, 2015

Dubai: UAE Grandmaster (GM) Salem A.R. Saleh remained at the top of the standings going into the final round after he outplayed third-seed GM Victor Moskalenko of Spain in the seventh round and then settled for a draw with his coach, top-seed GM Ivan Sokolov of the Netherlands, in the eighth round at the 12th Allegiance to Zayed Chess Tournament at Dubai Chess and Culture Club late on Wednesday.

Saleh, seeded second in the tournament, has 7.5 points and maintains a slim half-point lead over his nearest pursuers.

Fifth seed GM Elmar Magerramov of Azerbaijan, one of the instructors at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club’s chess school, and seventh seed Talal Hilwani of Syria are in joint second with seven points apiece.

Magerramov beat his compatriot Ulvi Bajarani in the seventh round and then won against Fide Master (FM) Antonio Molina in the eighth, while Hilwani scored victories over Mahmoud Haitham of Sudan and his compatriot Abdul Kader Raes to stay in contention for the championship trophy.

Sokolov, who also serves as the UAE national team coach, Moskalenko and Bajarani and two others occupy the third rung of the standings with 6.5 points each.

Sokolov won his seventh-round match with Indian J. Manjunath before the truce with Saleh, while Moskalenko and Bajarani rebounded from their setbacks in the seventh round with wins over tenth seed FM Roman Zemtsov and the UAE’s 12th seed Candidate Master (CM) Najib Saleh respectively.

Also with 6.5 points are ninth-seeded International Master (IM) Mehrshad Sharif of France and 13th seed Jobannie C. Tabada of the Philippines.

Staff Report