Hello dear friends! Aparently many of you have logged on to the site (multiple times) to see if the pairings are up or not. Sorry for lateness. Here they are:

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!