Muscat School chess league concludes

MUSCAT: First Muscat Schools Chess Champion’s League concluded with the participation of 40 students representing eight different schools.

With 10 teams registered it was decided to play a round-robin format with all 10 teams facing each other. The excellent playing conditions of play at the French School of Muscat facilities and the support of qualified International Arbiters Mussalam al Wadhahi (International Arbiter and Oman Chess Committee Member), Ruqayya al Balushi (Fide arbiter), Ahmad al Raisi (Fide arbiter), Zouhair Naciri (candidate master) and Ismael Karim (International Chess Master and International Chess Academy of Oman Director) made this event a success.

The level of competition was very strong by the standards with many students having an International Rating, Jijo Joy who is an international player with a rating of 1961 was leading Indian School Al Wadi Al Kabir and his perfect score of 9 out of 9 points was a great contribution to his team victory! It was a fierce battle for the top 4 spots to qualify for the final four, which will be played next month on April 21. British School of Muscat A made sensation taking the third place after winning their last round encounter against British School of Muscat B! Madinat Al Sultan Qaboos Private School made a strong impression threw the competition and finished on a deserved fourth place. American British Academy finished only 1 point short of the fourth place but with such young players, it will be definitely a team to follow in the years to come.

The first two places were taken by Indian School Al Wadi Al Kabir and Indian School Al Ghubra, ISWK conceded only 1 game and one draw threw the full competition! While Indian School Al Ghubra lost only one match to ISWK. Will British School of Muscat and Madinat Al Sultan Qaboos Private School be able to stop the Indian Machines? Rendez-vous on 21st of April for a final 4 that promises to be exciting!

The lucky winner of the flight ticket to Europe given by our sponsor Air France KLM was Mahmood al Hadidi from the Omani Selection Team.

The event was supported by Zawawi Group, Air France KLM, Newrest Wacasco and Alawi & Co Adocates & Legal consultants.