EnshAllah the site will be updated soon.

Thanks for your patience everyone.

Hello everyone, I’m back to Kuwait and I will finalize the final report of the National Tournament including a big pictorial gallery later tonight.

Sorry for the delay in the reporting. But I will be unavailable for the next couple of days. Hopefully, after the weekend, I will continue updating the site.

I will also compose another article about my visit to the Qatar Chess Federation.  Hope you guys will like them.

I will also include another “surprise” report on another topic that might be of interest to you guys. Till then, be safe citizens of Kuwait.

And Stay tuned for Chess in Kuwait :)

I will be unavailable for the next few days. But here’s what you have to know. THIS SATURDAY, in the Society of Engineers, the prize ceremony will take place where the top players will receive thier prizes. So be there at 7pm to enjoy a couple of games of chess as well.

Anyways, the top players are: 1- Dennis Poliquit, 2- Bader Al Hajeri, 3- Hani Samieh, 4- Ahmad Jad Al Rab, and 5th is Florentino Silao.

Congratulations to the top 5 players.

On Sunday, I will post a full comprehnesive report talking about the previous rounds and include a huge array of pictures from the tournament. Stay tuned and wishing you the very best.

Without further adieu, here’s the Round 8 pairings (with scores):

1. Hani Samieh vs. Dennis Poliquit (6.0 pts)
2. Ferdinand Bugay (5.5 pts) vs. Bader Al Hajeri
3. Ahmad Jad vs. Abdulmohsin Ali
4. Dr. Ahmad vs. Taher Al Khateeb (5.0 pts)
5. Florentino Silao vs. Khaled Khan
6. Ahmad Hosni vs. Waleed Al Awadhi (4.5 pts)
7. Eid Mohammad vs. Asfand Khan
8. Ferdinand Laming vs. Basir Cosain (4.0 pts)
9. Fayiq Kanan vs. Mohammad Jabr
10. Edgar Benities  vs. Emmanuel Ygpuara
11. Faizur Rahman vs. Naser Maqsed
12. Samuel Santos vs. Imad Abdullatief
13. Hamada Al Wakiel vs. Al Sayed Anwar
14. Nizar Kanan vs. Hamdi Faraj (3.5 pts)
15. Waheed Hilal vs. Basim Zaki
16. Khaled Hashem (3.o pts) vs. Sajan Varguese
17. Ahmad Abdou vs. Omran Al Moussawi
18. Kennith Tasadao vs. Imad Fawzi
19. Abdulrahman Al Ibrahim vs. Bader AlKhaldi
20. Abdulwahab Al Atiqi vs. AbdulAziz Al Sinafi (2.5 pts)
21. Nasir Bahamany vs. Amin Yamout (2.0 pts)
22. Nanda Kumar vs. Zaid Marafi
23. Abdulmohsin Al Meshari vs. Hashem Hussain (1.5 pts)
24. Oliver John 1:0 BYE

SCORE SHEER FOR:

Players: Bader Al Hajeri (white) vs. Hani Sameih (Black)

Details- Date: February 18th, 2010 / Location: Kuwait Chess Federation / Event: National Tournament 2010

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Qxd4 Nc6
5. Bb5 Bd7
6. Bxc6 Bxc6
7. Nc3 Nf6
8. Bg5 e6
9. 0-0-0 Be7
10. Rhe1 0-0
11. Kb1 Qc7
12. Qd2 Rfd8
13. Nd4 a6
14. f3 Rac8
15. g4 b5
16. h4 Qb7
17. Nce2 b4
18. Ng3 a5
19. Rg1 Ne8
20. Nh5 Qd7
21. Nf5!! exf5
22. gxf5 f6
23. Bh6! Bf8
24. Bxg7! Bxg7
25. Rxg7 Qxg7
26. Nxg7 Nxg7
27. Qh6 Rf8
28. Rxd6 Ne8
29. Rd1 Rc7
30. Rd8 Rg7
31. b3 Rff7
32. Qe3 Ra7
33. Qc5 Rac7
34. h5 h6
35. e5! fxe5
36. f6! Rgf7
37. Qxe5 Kf8
38. Qf4 Kg8
39. Qxh6 Bd7
40. Qg6+ Kf8
41. h6 Bb5
42. Qf5 Rb7
43. Qc5+ Kg8
44. Qe5 Kf8
45. f4 Rfc7
46. f7 Rxf7
47. Rxe8!! Bxe8
48. Qh8+! Ke7
49. h7 Rb5
50. Qd4! Rxh7
51. Qe4+ Kd6
52. Qxh7 Bd7
53. Qe4 Bf5
54. Qd4+ Kc6
55. Qf6+ Kc7
56. Qe7+ Kc6
57. Qe8+! Kb6
58. a3 Rc5
59. axb4 Bxf7
60. Kb2 axb4
61. Qb8+ Kc6
62. Qc8+ Kb6
63. Qxc5+! Kxc5
64. Kxc2 Kd4
65. f5 Ke5
66. Kd3 Kxf5
67. Kc4 Ke6
68. Kxb4 Kd6
69. Kb5 Kc7
70. Ka6 Kb8
71. b4 Ka8
72. b5 Kb8
73. Kb6 Ka8
74. Kc7 RESIGNS 1:0

In this position, Black is slightly worse. His only chance is to attack the king as soon as possible. Black just played Bf5, attacking the white queen. What would you play next?

Believe it or not, this was the position I had against my rival in the final round of the AUK chess championship on 2007. What do you suggest is the best move?

And on the same note, which move do you think is worst? Meaning, what move would be the worst for white to play?

Here, Instead of moving his queen to safety, he played g4?? What would you play after g4?

On round 5, we witnessed Ferdinand Bugay unleash his fury against Dennis Poliquit. Ferdinand defeated Dennis after a long struggle. Most thought they would initially draw, but apparently Ferdinand wanted the win badly. We also witnessed a comical game between Taher Al Khateeb and Nasir Bahamany. Taher, very early in the game, blundered a whole queen for nothing (not even a pawn). Yet instead of resigning, he played for a win. After a few dozen moves, Taher threatened to take the queen with his bishop. Instead of Nasir just moving his queen to safety, he too blundered back his queen. After the queen “trade,” it turned out that Nasir was still a whole bishop up.  But by move 70, Nasir blundered again by placing himself into a checkmate. A truly hilarious game. Waleed Al Awadhi was seated next to Taher and he commented about the game by saying, “every little while I heard, ‘Oe Damn!’ I didn’t know whether to focus on my game or look at thiers.” And then we both laughed. EnshAllah, we will put the game when we have the scoresheet in our hand.

On Round 6, we saw Hani Sameih play against Ferdinand Bugay at table 1. There were only a few players without a loss. But by the end of tonights round, only 1 player stands without a single loss or draw. Mr. Hani Samieh has 6.0 points out of a total 6 rounds. For round 7, Hani Sameih will be pitted against the Kuwaiti Champ, Bader Al Hajeri. It will truly be an exciting game. The one question remains, will Al Hajeri take down the current winner. Or will Hani will the tournament with a perfect score? Stay tuned in to KuwaitChess.net to find out.

And here is the Round 7 Pairings:

1. Bader Al Hajeri (5.0 pts) vs. Hani Sameih (6.0 pts)
2. Ferdinand Bugay vs. Ahmad Jad Al Rab
3. Dennis Poliqut vs. Eid Mohammed (4.5 pts)
4. M. Abdulmohsin vs. Ahmed Hosni
5. Imad Abdulatief vs. Taher Al Khateeb (4.0 pts)
6. Al Sayed Anwar vs. Florentino Silao
7. Mohammad Jabr vs. Dr. Ahmad Al Shekhani
8. Khaled Khan vs. Edgar Benities
9. Asfand Khan vs. Waleed Al Awadhi
10. Fayiq Kanan vs. Ferdinand Laming (3.5 pts)
11. Emmanuel Ygpuara vs. Hamada Al Wakiel
12. Khaled Hashem vs. Faizur Rahman (3.0 pts)
13. Sajan Varguese vs. Nizar Kanan
14. Basir Cosain vs. Kennith Tasadao
15. Omran Al Moussawi vs. Samuel Santos
16. Hamdi Faraj vs. Waheed Hilal
17. Nasser Maqseed vs. Abdulrahman AL Ibrahim
18. Basim Zaki vs. Oliver John (2.5 pts)
19. Abdulaziz Al Sinafi vs. Naser Bahamany (2.0 pts)
20. Abdulwahab Al Atiqi vs. Nanda Kumar
21. Zaid Al Marafi vs. Bader Al Khaldi
22. Hashem Hussain (1.5 pts) vs. Imad Fawzi
23. Abdulmohsin Al Meshari vs. Amin Yamout (1.0 pts)
24. Ahmad Abdou 1:0 BYE

IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE PAIRINGS WILL BE CHANGED BECAUSE THERE SEEMS TO BE AN ERROR. LABIB OBAID PLAYED ON ROUND 6 YET HE ISN’T ON THE ROUND 7 LIST. AS I SAID BEFORE, THE LIST MIGHT BE ALTERED ON THE DAY OF THE TOURNAMENT. I HAVE CONTACTED KHALAF AL AZMI AND HE IS LOOKING INTO THE MATTER.

I will post the pictures soon enshAllah. Have a great day.

Update One: Labib Obaid has voluntarily relieved himself from the rest of the tournament. A nice and wonderful gesture. He showed respect not only to the chess club but also to the other players. Its not proper for someone to leave the tournament without first excusing himself and reporting it to the arbitor. Other people pay to play. So if you leave and not tell anyone, you are leaving that player hanging in the air. So Thanks to Mr. Obaid for informing the arbitor of his release.  Hashem Khan also has been absent several times. So he would probably be removed from participating from the rest of the tournament.

RULES TO KNOW: If you miss two games in a row, your entry will be removed from the rest of the tournament (only the current tournament). If you miss three games total (not in a row), you also have your name removed from the rest of the tourney. However, the people removed from a particuliar tournament can still participate in future games. 

Bader Al Hajeri won in the 3rd round and Ahmad Jad surprisingly lost to Dennis. So far, Dennis has defeated two of the top players of the tournaments.

Dennis Poliquit is on a roll! Let’s see if Ferdinand Bugay can take him out. The next round will take place on February 14th, 2010 at 6:30pm in the Kuwait Chess Federation (as usual). Below you will find the pairings for that day.

ROUND 5 PAIRINGS & SCORES:

1. M. AbdulMohsin vs. Hani Sameih (4.0 points)
2. Dennis Poliquit vs. Ferdinand Bugay
3. Bader Al Hajeri vs. Al Sayed Anwar (3.0 points)
4. Faizur Rahman vs. Ahmad Jad
5. Florentino Silao vs. Labib Obaid
6. Mohammed Jabr vs. Khaled Khan
7. Basir Cosain vs. Edgar Benities
8. Imad Abdullatief vs. Eid Mohammed
9. Ferdinand Laming vs. Samuel Santos (2.5 points)
10. Ahmed Hosni vs. Hamada Al Wakiel
11. Fayiq Kanan vs. Oliver John
12. Taher Al Khateeb vs. Naser Bahamany (2.0 points)
13. Waleed Al Awadhi vs. Kennith Tasadao
14. Khaled Hashem vs. Emmanuel Ygpuara
15. AbdelWahab Al Atiqi vs. Hamdi Faraj
16. Ahmed Abdou vs. Dr. Ahmed Al Shekhani
17. Imad Fawzi vs. Nasir Al Maqseed
18. Sajan Varughese vs. Waheed Hilal
19. Asfand Khan vs. Bader Al Khaldi (1.5 points)
20. Nizar Kanan vs. Amin Yamout (1.0 point)
21. Hashim Ali vs. Nanda Kumar
22. Hashim Khan vs. AbdulAziz Al Sinafi
23. Abdulrahman Al Ibrahim vs. Abdulmohsin Al Meshary
24. Zaid Al Marafi vs. Omran Al Mosawi
25. Basim Zaki 1:0 BYE (0.5 points)

Anyways, Khaled “Hangout,” the owner of the Hangout-Cafe organized this tournament. It’s a knockout tournament with no time limit per game. I personally played a total of 6 players, including the final round. In the picture below, you will see pictures taken moments before the commencement of the semi-finals. The top 4 players including the cafe owner and myself, battled it out to be  the victor. The players are, Khaled Hangout, Mr. Ammar, Hamed Al Mulla, and myself, Khaled Hashem. The pictures were taken on Monday, the 8th of February, 2010 by Bader Al Khaldi. Please excuse us for the low quality of the photos because we used a camera phone.

I played against Khaled “Hangout” and Ammar played against Hamed. Khaled Hangout blundred his queen just 15 moves after the game started against me. He resigned and I waited to see who I would play against in the finals. Ammar also blundred his bishop in the opening. As Hamed slowly creeped into Ammar’s position, Ammar blundred again and found himself checkmated just a few moves later.

The final round took place on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 in the Hangout Cafe. I played the white pieces and Hamed Al Mulla with the black. Against hamed, I chose to play the Queen’s Gambit declined variation. I was wrong to do so because I  lost a pawn a few moves from the starting position.  I struggled to equalize. As the game ran on, Hamed was forced to sacrifice a pawn and then another to keep his position in tact. The game went into an opposite colored bishop endgame with me having an extra pawn. The game looked like it would end in a draw. My extra pawn proved otherwise. As I pushed the pawn forward, Hamed Sac’ed the bishop for two pawns leaving me with a winning game. He resigned not too soon after.

Khaled “Hangout” congratulated me and handed me a 5 KD voucher to his cafe. Not to shabby for a tournament with no registeration fee. Here’s me saying hello to all the new players I met and I hope to see you guys soon. Cheers!

 Background Information About Hangout Cafe: The Hangout Cafe is owned by a Mr. Khalid, a Labanese national. It was created a few years ago and its located in the heart of Salmiya. Specifically, it’s located on the 1st floor in the Galleria 2000 Shooping Mall next to the Plaza and the American University of Kuwait. If you like a free environment where you can play chess openly without stress, this is the cafe for you. Khalid has three chess sets ready for anybody to have a game at anytime.

1. Bader Al Hajeri vs. Dennis Poliquit
2. Waleed Al Awadhi vs. Hami Sameih
3. Fedinand Bugay vs. Faizur Rahman
4. Imad Abdulatief vs. Ahmad Al Rab
5. M. Abdulmohsin vs. Al Sayed Anwar
6. Hamdi Mahmoud vs. Florentino Silao
7. Ahmad Hosni vs. Labib Obaid
8. Mohammed Jabr vs. Hamada Wakiel
9. Ferdinand Laming vs. Oliver john
10. Asfand Khan vs. Edgar Benities
11. Fauiq Kanan vs. Kennith Tasadao
12. Naser Bahamany vs. Nizar Kanan
13. Basir Cosain vs. Nanda Kumar
14. Dr. Ahmad Al Shikanani vs. Khaled Khan
15. Emmanuel Ygpuara vs. Waheed Hilal
16. Hashem Hussain vs. Samuel Santos
17. Abdulrahman Al Ibrahim vs. Eid Mohamed
18. Ahmad Abdou vs. Hashem Khan
19. Zaid Ali Marafi vs. Naser Al Maqseed
20. Sajan Varughese vs. Abdulmohsin Al Meshari
21. Bader Al Khaldi vs. Imad Ibrahim
22. Taher Al Khateeb vs. Basim Zaki
23. Khaled Al Harees vs. Khaled Hashem
24. Nour Al Dien vs. Abdulwahab Al Atiqi
25. Greg Blanco vs. Moh’d Mahmoud
26. Abdulaziz Al Sinafi vs. Omran Al Mossawi

As for reporting. There were a few surprises. Asfand, the young Anand, defeated Omran in a tough game. Omran initially had an advantage against Asfand. But in the middle game, while attacking Asfand, Omran blundred a rook for a bishop. Omran lost the bishop as well a few moves later.

Also a very surprising game was played between Taher Al Khateeb and Waheed Hilal. Taher blundred early in the game. But according to past tournaments, Taher tends to rebound from his losses a few games after.

So Good luck to Omran, Taher and to all those who lost. There is still 7 rounds to go. As for the favorites, which include Bader Al Hajeri, Hani Samieh, and Ferdinand Bugay, they still have long to go to prove themselves worthy of winning the tournament.

There are also a few others who have 2.0 out 2 rounds apart from the mentioned favorites. So its still too early to tell who will win. So Good luck to all. And see you guys tomorrow. CHEERS!

 

FINALLY, THE  BOARD HAVE APPROVED THE SPONSORSHIP FOR THE SPORT OF CHESS IN OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY, KUWAIT. THANK YOU!!! Al Hamdullah wa Shuker LelAllah. 

The Kuwait Chess Federation will now be sponsored directly by the Public Authority of Youths and Sports. This means that the club will have enough resources to bring professional trainers, update the facilities, and most importantly, sponosor MORE tournaments!

Here is some background information in case you don’t know about our previous situation. Eight years ago, the government changed the status of Chess in Kuwait when sponsorship rights were handed to the Board of Public Authority for Youths and Sports. After that, the ministry suspended ALL funds for the Kuwait Chess Federation because the sport wasn’t publically acknowledged. Now, after eight whole years of hearing, “we’ll get back to you,” the Board finally approved the sponsorship. 

Below is the article:

Source: Al Nahar Newspaper, January 31, 2010, page 27. 

Translation {Summarised and Paraphrased}:

Title: “SPONSORSHIP FOR ((CHESS)) AND ((HOCKEY)) TO THE BOARD OF PUBLIC AUTHORITY”

Author: Hassan Moussa, Translator: Khaled Hashem

Body: “The board of public authority for youths and sports have accepted to sponsor the games of Chess and the winter game, Hockey, into thier list of accepted sports. During the meeting held in during last Wednesday where Managing Director Faisal Al Jassaf as well as a few others, including Sheikh Ahmad Al Nawaf, have accepted these sports.” END!

I AM SO HAPPY! FINALLY KUWAIT HAVE ACCEPTED THIS BEAUTIFUL SPORT!

EnshAllah it will continue to grow in people’s hearts as well.