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OverView:

A few weeks ago on the beginning of October, The GCC countries had a team chess tournament. Each team would have 4 players playing while one or two players were kept in reserve. Out of the six possible countries that could participate, only four countries had representatives. Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, and Qatar were the only countries that participated. Oman and Saudia Arabia did not show up. The Tournament took place in Dubai, UAE in the year of 2008 on October 8th – October 15th. Next year, the team Tournament will be held in Kuwait.

Participants:

A total of 19 players played at different times in this tournament. There was 1 GM, 4 IM’s, 5 FM’s, 1 CM, and 8 untitled players.

Representation and the Make-up of Teams:

Kuwait’s representatives; Waleed AlAwadhi (table 1), Mohamed Qabazard (table 2), Faisal AlHamlan (table 3), Bader AlHajeri (table 4), and Abdulsalam AlDakheel being the back-up.

Bahrain’s Representatives; Ali AlSulaity (table 1), “FM” Abdulgalil Ayyad (table 2), “FM” Maher Ayyad (table 3), Khalaf Bukhalaf (table 4), and “CM” Ali AlGhasra as the back-up.

United Arab Emirites’ representatives; “IM” Saleh Salem (table 1), “FM” Ishaq Saeed (table 2), “IM” Abdullah Hassan (table 3), ”FM” Jasem Alhuwar (table 4), and “FM” Yahya Saleh as the back-up.

Qatar’s Representatives; “GM” Hamad AlModaihki (table 1), “IM” Mohamed AlSayed (table 2), “IM” AbdulAziz Husein (table 3), and Hamad AlTamimi (table 4). They had no back-up player.

Placement:

• 1st Place: Qatar         [6+ , 0= , 0-]
• 2nd Place: UAE          [4+ , 0=, 2-]
• 3rd Place: Bahrain     [2+ , 0= , 4-]
• 4th Place: Kuwait      [0+ , 0= , 6-]

Qatar’s Achievement:

The only team to not have lost a single game in any of the boards was The Qatari Team. Not only that, Hamad AlModiahki was the only player to have 6 wins from 6 games total! Congratulations to Hamad a Modiahki and the Qatari Team!

Points Per Team:

There was a total of 24 games played in the tournament and Qatar ended up with 22 points, drawing only 4 games. The UAE ended with 15 points total. The Bahraini Team had 9.5 points, whilst Kuwait ended up with 1.5 points.

Dissappointment:

The only team to show up without a trainer or coach was the Kuwaiti Team. Mohamed Qabazard said, “It was dissappointing to see the other players go to thier rooms at night to practice while we were the only team to be in the lobby with empty hands.” Qabazard also said, “If we don’t get proper trainers, I won’t participate in the tournament next year. We had a very bad result because of our bad preparation.”

Interviews:

Mohamed Qabazard: “Overall, it was a great experience. However it was a bit short. I only played three rounds out of the six total. There was a lack of preparation from our side when compared to the other nations. I won’t play again next year if there is no change in Kuwait’s situation with Chess sponsorship. Kuwait has no FIDE accreditation, no coach, and bad adminstration. In fact, we don’t have an administration, hehehe.” However, it was a nice change from routine. We also went to malls and enjoyed this vacation.”

Waleed Al Awadhi: “We need to start taking things seriously. We need preparation for these kinds of tournaments. We also had same-day preparation problems. We prepared our openings on the same day we were to play against our opponents.  A Kuwaiti team needs to have a coach to depend on. Chess books don’t ‘talk’ to you! A Coach can see your weaknesses and tell you how to improve on them! Grand Master Victor Bologan, the Qatari Coach, told me I played a good French Defence against GM Hamad AlModaihki. And against Ali Salaity, I almost beat him. I blundered a rook but I still had an initiative. Also Faisal AlHamlan did really well againt a couple of players. In fact, in one game, he had a won position.”

Bader AlHajeri: I play really well but my weakness is my opening preparation. I could have won against another opponent but my opening prepartion was bad.

Abdulsalam AlDakheel: I had two bad losses. In only one game i actually sat down and concentrated.  When I arrived in Dubai, it turned out I didn’t have a room to sleep in. I slept on the floor on the first night. The officials than compensated me by giving me a suite. Also when i first arrived, i was surprised to hear that I was going to play on that day. I was tired and couldn’t concentrate. It was a good experience overall.

Games Played:

If you would like to see the complete compilation of the games played in the tournament, please leave your email in the comments and I will send it to you as soon as possible. Thank you.

Pictures: By Abdulsalam AlDakheel