FIA President Ben Sulayem meets FIFA chief Infantino
Early favourites defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram, Hans Moke Niemann and Arjun Erigaisi also secure victories in the opening round
leaders following wins over IM Sambit Panda of India, GM Tsegmed Batchuluun of Mongolia and IM Zou Chen of China respectively.
GM Abhimanyu Mishra of the US, who in 2021 became the youngest player in history to become a grandmaster at the age of 12 years, four months, and 25 days, leads a large contingent of teenagers at the Dubai Open this year. Mishra, now 14, defeated IM Mohamed Tissir of Morocco for his first point.
Other youth players making their mark early in the tournament are Russia’s Volodar Murzin, 16, who defeated fellow teenager IM Anuj Shrivatri of India, Aditya Mital, 16, who prevailed over the UAE’S IM Omran Al Hosani, and Xue Haowen, 14, of China, the only untitled player among the firstround leaders who defeated GM David Gavrilescu of Romania.
Another young talent, FM Sina Movahed of Iran, celebrated his 13th birthday during the tournament’s first round and reached a promising position against the veteran Georgian GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili’s Taimanov variation of the Sicilian Defense.
The Iranian teenager, however, stumbled in the middlegame, allowing Mchedlishvili to wrest the initiative and pick up the win in 46 moves.
Fourth-seed GM Salem AR Saleh of the UAE and eighth-seed and 2010 Dubai Open champion GM Eduardo Iturrizaga of Spain were among the top 10 players who were held to draws in the first round.
Saleh setled for an unevenful draw with another youngster Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus of Turkey, while Iturrizaga fought back from a losing position in a draw with 16-year-old IM Emin Ohanyan of Armenia.
MONACO: Mohammed Ben Sulayem paid an amicable visit to the President of FIFA Gianni Infantino with the aim of discussing collaboration opportunities in the areas of sporting governance, stewarding and refereeing practices.
Additionally, there was an in-depth, fruiful discussion on the online abuse campaign during which both parties highlighted the importance of joining forces with representative bodies from other sports along with other stakeholders for a greater positive impact.
FIA President said: “It was great to meet with President Infantino at the Monaco Grand Prix and tour our Race Control today. We discussed the growing collaboration between our organisations on sporting governance.
“We also discussed how we can share learnings on stewarding and refereeing from the FIA’S Remote Operations Centre in Geneva and using the football Video Assistant Referee system.”
The online abuse Campaign discussion was at the heart of the meeting. Ben Sulayem communicated to Infantino the increasing prevalence of online harassment and abuse within the sport industry, stressing that taking action has become primordial at this stage.
Both presidents concurred that the FIA Online Abuse campaign is giving victims a voice, calling for coordinated action and concrete solutions.
“We also discussed ways of working together along with other sporting bodies on addressing the blight of online abuse and making change for good. The FIA’S United Against Abuse campaign seeks to bring the likes of FIFA, UEFA, IOC and representative bodies from other sports to join forces along with academic institutions and federal governments.”
Finally, the FIA is officially launching 6 scholarships dedicated to research into online hate globally, linked to Dublin City University and the FIA University. The later is also planning to use artificial intelligence to reduce toxicity levels on FIA channels and will roll this out to their Member Clubs.
On Friday, Ben Sulayem also held engaging discussions with Prince Albert II, Prince of Monaco with the aim of strengthening professional bonds, sharing updates on FIA’S activities, and exploring further opportunities for collaboration, especially in regards to sustainability efforts.
During the meeting, FIA President recognized Monaco and the Automobile Club de Monaco’s special place in the FIA, thanking Prince Albert for his continued support of all FIA disciplines and praising the level of Monegasque volunteers involved in motorsport. On the events front, the FIA President highlighted the importance of preserving historic motorsports events on the FIA calendar, such as the Formula 1, Formula E and the World Rally Championship among others, all of which take place in Monaco, and underlined a growing need for such events to expand to all continents.
“I was honoured to meet with Prince Albert II, Prince of Monaco, for engaging discussions on a range of topics including the heritage and prestige of the Monaco Grand Prix. We also talked about the invaluable contribution of volunteers to motor sport and the FIA’S Online Abuse Campaign,” Said Ben Sulayem.