Salem pulls away with six points clear
dubai — GM Salem AR Saleh of the UAE beat GM Hicham Hamdouchi of Morocco in the 7th round to pull away with 6 points in the Arab Individual Chess Championship by Emirates at the Dubai Chess Club in Dubai.
Salem used the Queen’s Gambit and Hamdouchi castled on the opposite wing. In the ensuing Rook and Pawn endgame, the Emirati had two connected passed pawns escorted by his King.
Unable to stop the pawn advance, the Moroccan resigned on the 45th move.
A half point behind Salem is GM Bilel Bellahcene of Algeria. Bellahcene turned back the Reti Opening of FM Rafat Issa of Jordan.
After a skirmish in the middle game, the Algerian transposed to the endgame a piece up and forced a Knight fork to win the Rook. Issa resigned on the 56th move.
Tied with 5 points each are GM Ahmed Adly of Egypt and IM Basheer Qudaimi of Yemen. Adly beat FM Ishaq Saeed of the UAE while Basheer beat IM Mohammed Tissir of Morocco. Issa and Hamdouchi trail with 4.5 points each together with IM Amir Zaibi of Tunisi and FM Chafik Taibi of Algeria.
In the women’s division, WGM Shahenda Wafa of Egypt b eat WIM Sabrina Latreche of Algeria to lead alone with 6 points out of 7 rounds. WIM Amina Mezioud of Algeria beat WIM Amira Hamza of Algeria to follow half a point behind at 5.5 points. WIM Alshaeby Boshra of Jordan beat WGM Shrook Wafa of Egypt to trail in third slot with 5 points.
The 9-round Swiss System tournament is organized by the UAE Chess Federation under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and sponsored by Emirates Air. Visit chess-results.com for round by round results and standings. Games are broadcast live on chessbomb.com.