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Al Sayyah First International Chess Blitz Tournament will take place on Friday the 17th of August, organized by Home of Chess Academy in Dubai with coordination with the UAE Sports Council and UAE Chess Federation.

More than 100 players will participate in this tournament representing 30 countries, among them will be around 20 titled players (Grand Masters, Women Grand Master, International Masters and Fide Masters)

To attract talent from a broader spectrum, the organizing committee will be giving some very attractive cash prizes to the winners, plus many other special prizes to the youngsters and the best local Emirati players participating.

The tournament will take place in Shatha Tower in Dubai Media City at 3 PM, and it will be played according to the Swiss system, consisting of 9 rounds.

The event will be using digital chess boards that will broadcast games live on the web to all the chess enthusiasts globally. Many chess journalists and experts will be publishing the tournaments’ updates on the web, and will also be giving their analysis on the games.

The head of the organizing committee, Mr. Saed Madanat announced that this tournament will be a great opportunity for the Emirati players and the players residing in UAE to gain a valuable experience playing against some of the finest chess grandmasters out there. He also expressed that Home of Chess & Al Sayyah group are doing their best to ensure the success of the tournament.

http://www.homeofchess.com/

Men/Open

Asia’s No. 1 team is China which is seeded third behind the USA and Russia while India is the fifth seed. The young Iran team which is the winners of the Asian Nations Cup is seeded twenty second.

Fourth ranked Vietnam comes next, seeded twenty seventh and then Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Australia can be considered the only amateur chess country in the Asian Top 10 and is seeded fourth. Then comes Mongolia, Philippines and Bangladesh.

 

Women

China is ranked No. 1 in both the World and Asia but thanks to the absence of World No. 1 Hou Yifan, is only seeded third behind Russia and Ukraine.

Just behind is the fourth seeded Indian team, arguably their strongest for many years with the return of a genuine world championships challenger in Koneru Humpy.

Kazakhstan has put together its best team and so is seeded eighth and Mongolia is seeded fifteenth with Vietnam seeded sixteenth.

Unseeded FIDE Master V.S. Rathanvel of India upset top seed GM Le Quang Leim of Vietnam in the opening round of the 25th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Abu Dhabi.

The 17-year-old Rathanvel, rated 2348, crushed the Caro Kann defense of the Vietnamese champion, rated 2727. The Indian gave the Rook for Bishop exchange on the 18^th move then embarked on a king hunt with Queen and two Bishops to force resignation on the 59^th move.

Top seed GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam (right) got the upset axe in the first round against FM V.S. Rathanvel of India.

Rathanvel and 36 other players from India are in a group of 70 players who won in the first round. Local hero GM Salem A.R. Saleh was held to a draw by untitled 15-year-old Sankalp Gupta of India who used the Queen’s Indian defense and drew by repetition of position in 57 moves.

Amlong the leading grandmasters are former Abu Dhabi Open champion Wang Hao of China, Richard Rapport of Hungary, Irwin Cheparinov of Georgia, Vladimir Fedoseev and Danil Dubov of Russia, Amin Bassem of Egypt, Gabriel Sargissian of Armenia, Anton Korobov andf Martin Kravtsiv of Ukraine, Nigel Short of England and Vladimir Akopian of Armenia.

Over $61,000 in cash prizes are at stake in the tournament organized by the Abu Dhabi Chess Club and the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation  under the patronage of  H.H Sheikh Nahyan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Sport Council.

The inauguration was also attended by, Hussain Abdullah Khoury (left), Director of the festival and Hassan Ramadan President of the Kuwait Chess Federation  Hussain Al Shamsi General secretary of the UAE chess Federation Abdul Mohsin Fahad Al Dosari, Acting General  Authority of sports , Sultan Al Daheri  Executive Director Etisalat Abu dhabi ., Omran Al Khoory  President Business Development from VPS group  were the dignitaries on the opening ceremony representing the sponsors.

“The festival has become a unique event on the international calendar of chess masters. The International Chess Federation have included the festival in its annual program and many popular newspapers and websites are covering the progress, Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Hussain Khoury, told a press conference.

“We are grateful to Shaikh Saif for his kind patronage of the event. We expect the event will be a big success as we have received a large number of entries following the increase in prize money, he added.

A strong field of 47 grandmasters, 30 International Masters, 7 Woman Grandmasters, 6 Woman International Masters, 20 FIDE Masters and 2 Woman FIDE Masters in a record field of 158 players from 32 countries are competing in the Masters event. The Festival consists of an elite Masters championship for players rated above 2100, an Open tournament for those rated below 2100 and a Junior championship for players under 16 years of age.

Games are scheduled 4pm. There are no matches on Friday but there will be a simultaneous exhibition at 3pm and a blitz tournament starting 5pm. A family tournament and a Homeland protectors’ tournament will be held 2pm on 13 August.

Forty Seven Grandmasters are competing in the Masters.

In the Open, a record 236 players from 34 countries are competing in the 9-round Swiss System tournament. In the juniors, 184 players from 18 countries are competing including 73 juniors from the UAE. Visit chess-results.com for results and standings.

“We increased the prize money to Dhs 300,000 in our quest to attract more top quality entries, which will ensure that the event us a success,”  added.  Hussain Abdullah Khoury

“We are happy that the festival coincides with the UAE’s celebrations of the Accession Day of His Highness Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the President.”

GM Salem A. R. Saleh of the UAE (left) was held to a draw by untitled 15-year-old Sankalp Gupta of India.

Khoury, who is also the Vice President of the UAE Chess Federation, said that the UAE’s players have a good chance of winning titles at the festival.

“The UAE’s players will benefit the most from the festival as it will be a good chance for them to play against the world’s best masters and we have excellent players who can win titles,” Khoury said.

Report by Ignatius Leong

 

In the 9th and final round today, Korean Ahn Hongjin made a draw with Mongolian FM Erdene Baasansuren to secure a tie for the first place when Filipino Daniel Quizon defeated Korean Kang Taehyung.

Both Daniel and Anh achieved the IM title while Daniel collects his first GM norm based on his higher tiebreak.

In the matches to decide third placing, Korean Kwon Sehyun lost to Indonesian Jodi Setyaki. Korean FM Lee Jun Hyeok outplayed Mongolian FM Tsogbayar Bat-Erdene while Vietnamese Nguyen Hoang Duc won against Korean Jang Jaewon.

In the tie between Lee and Duc, Duc makes the IM norm because of their individual encounter.

Filipino Kylen Mordido captured the title of Eastern Asia Girls U20 Champion after defeating Indonesian Diajeng Singgih with the White pieces in the 7th and last round.

Although Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Minh Oanh lost to Korean Park Sunwoo, the former still finished on equal second with Diajeng and both achieved the WIM norm.

Kylen will receive the WIM title plus a WGM norm. Congratulations to Kylen and the Philippines!

Report by Ignatius Leong

In the Juniors, Malaysian Dawson Tan lost a 9-mover to Korean Ahn Hongjin within 20 minutes of play. Ahn maintains his lead over Filipino Daniel Quizon and Vietnamese Nguyen Hoang Duc who scored victories over Indonesian Jodi Setyaki and Korean FM Lee Jun Hyeok respectively. With 2 rounds to go, the leading players will face off the “weaker” players and any upset may still be possible.

Early leader Vietnamese Nguyen Hoang Duc with 4/4 suffered his third loss in 4 rounds after Round 8. Meanwhile Korean hopeful Ahn Hongjin and Filipino 14-year old Daniel Quizon won their respective games to remain in the lead.

Duc lost to Korean CM Kwon Sehyun. Another Korean FM Lee Jun Hyeok defeated compatriot You Haneul.

Going into the last round, the pairings avoided the encounters between players with more than 50% from the same federation. The results of Ahn and Daniel will determine who the new champion will be while the results of Duc, Kwon and Lee shall decide who will make the IM norm.

Let us see if history will be made for South Korea!

In the penultimate round for the Girls Championships, the 3 stronger players breezed through their games to assure themselves of the WIM norm when Rosamund Koo lost to Korean WFM Lee Seyeon. Rosamund was having the upper hand throughout but her play deteriorated and finally helped to be mated in one. A win could have still given her an outside chance for the WIM norm.

In the last round, Indonesian Diajeng Singgih will have to win with the White pieces against sole leader Filipino Kylen Mordido who has 5.5 points – one ahead of Diajeng and Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Minh Oanh.

Report by Ignatius Leong

Ahn Hongjin becomes a hero in this Round 6 by defeating Nguyen Hoang Duc to take the sole lead with 5 points. Ahn has cleared all the “contenders” and may breeze through to become the first International Master in South Korea!

Filipino Daniel Quizon was held to a draw by Korean FM Lee Jun Hyeok. Daniel has 4.5 and Lee with 4.

In Round 5 of the Girls Championship, Indonesian Diajeng Singgih wrapped up the game in less than 90 minutes against Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Ming Oanh. Filipino Kylen Mordido maintained the joint lead after Malaysian Rosamund Koo overlooked a fork in an about equal ending.

In the Junior, 14-year old Filipino wonder boy Daniel Quizon outplayed Vietnamese Nguyen Hoang Duc in a long drawn ending to join the lead with the latter. Meanwhile, Korean Ahn Hongjin defeated the Indonesian favourite Jodi Setyaki to also share the lead.

Daniel is another product of the ASEAN Age Group series. At only 14, he will not just be the next “Wesley So” but make a name for himself within the next years.

By the way, of the 24 participants, 10 are under the age of 18 while 4 (2 joint leaders) are below 14. It is still puzzling as to why the Asian Chess Federation “approved” that 3 events take place within 3 weeks … The Eastern Asia Juniors and Eastern Asia Youth currently in Korea and China respectively; and the “main” Asian Juniors one week later in Mongolia.

In the Borneo International Rapid Championships, held in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, from 4-5 August 2018, Indonesian IM/WGM Irene Sukandar headed a strong regional field from the Philippines and Indonesia which included seven International Masters to take honors and the USD 1,500 first prize on tie-break over the Philippines IM Hamed Nouri.

Irene had led from the start, running away from the field with 7/7 but faltered in the final stretch to allow Hamed to catch her on 7/5/9.

Still a brilliant performance by the Indonesian Superstar!

Report by Ignatius Leong

The Girls Championship is in a 3-way deadlock after Round 3 when the encounter between Nguyen Thi Minh Oanh and Kylen Mordido ended in a draw. Diajeng Singgih’s win over the third consecutive Korean opponent Kim Yubin put her in the joint lead. Rosamund Koo won against Tuya Khuslen, the only player in the event who has yet to score.

In the Junior, top seed Jodi Setyaki over-reached and Nguyen Hoang Duc increased his lead by the full point. Duc is followed by Daniel Quizon and Ahn Hongjin.

Full results for Boys at http://chess-results.com/tnr369418.aspx?lan=1 and for Girls at http://chess-results.com/tnr369417.aspx?lan=1

Report by Ignatius Leong

In round 2, Vietnamese Nguyen Hoang Duc defeated Mongolian Ganzorig Bulgankhan to join the lead with another Mongolian FM Erdene Baasansuren. The best Koreans FM Lee Jun Hyeok and Ahn Hongjin played out a draw.

In afternoon round 3, Duc went on to beat Bulgankhan to take the sole lead. Hongjin and 14-year old Filipino Daniel Quizon were engaged in a long-drawn out stonewall structure leaving basically no chances of any breakthrough. Indonesian favourite FM Jodi Setyaki went on the offensive against FM Lee which backfired leaving Setyaki defending his naked King with Bishop and Knight but under fire from his opponent’s Queen, Rook and Bishop. Lee’s King appeared to be safe but a very silly move helped his King got checkmated in 2!

In the Girls’ event, Filipino Kylen Mordido share the temporary lead with Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Minh Oanh when top seed Indonesian Diajeng Singgih was held to a draw by Korean WFM Lee Seyeon – both are only 14 years old.

The current results of the above 3 Koreans (FMs/WFM) are indicative that South Korea will be a major player in the near future. It goes to show that this 17-nation zone is getting too heavy. The combined population is around 1 billion but more worrisome is that it stretches from Timor Leste in the South to Mongolia in the north, and from Myanmar across the South China Sea to the Philippines. Air travel is worst than flying within the 2 extreme destinations in Europe.

In the end the Asian Nations Cup 2018 proved to be a huge success for hosts Iran with a sweep of all three Golds for their men and a Bronze for their women in Rapid Chess.

Overall China took the most medals – getting something in every category, their women getting two Golds and one Bronze while the men took two Silver and one Bronze.

India’s men got one Silver and one Bronze while their women got one Gold, one Silver and one Bronze.

 

Men

http://chess-results.com/tnr366602.aspx?lan=1&art=0&turdet=YES&flag=30

The Asian Nations Cup saw the young team from hosts Iran replicate in Standard Chess their earlier success in Rapid Chess with a powerful performance that left Asia powerhouses China and India essentially just fighting for second place.

Iran beat all their rivals convincingly and with first place already secured was even able to make a short draw with their second team in the penultimate round.

China sent their B team and paid a heavy price when India who were represented by a mix of A and B players snatched the Silver on tie-break, both teams finishing a point ahead of a very competitive Kazakhstan Olympiad side and the Iran B team.

In the final Blitz event, Iran completed a clean sweep and this time China was second and Vietnam got their first medal, taking third place for Bronze.

 

Women

http://chess-results.com/tnr366780.aspx?lan=1&art=20&snr=2&turdet=YES&flag=30

Except for a surprise draw with Uzbekistan, it was really a stroll for the China team, like India, fielding a mixture of A and B players, as they won all their other matches.

Vietnam put up the biggest challenge in taking Silver, narrowly losing to China and only held to one draw by Iran.

Surprisingly India was unable to mount a challenge, but took Bronze on tiebreak over Uzbekistan and this result has to be considered to be a failure for the No. 2 ranked Asian chess nation who are looking to mount a medal challenge at the coming Batumi Olympiad.

India’s however managed to take Gold in the Blitz which closed off the championships, the Vietnamese women going one better than their men with Silver and China taking Bronze.