This report is long overdue. I should have posted this at least a few months back. But a few things delayed the matter and I didn’t. Hopefully this will rejuvenate the people’s belief in this site. As you have noticed, in the latest tournament, the March Open, I didn’t post any pictures. The reason for this is that taking pictures takes concentration away from the games. And this time around I wanted to focus on my play.

And a big thank you goes to Ahmed Hosni and Reberto Carandang for taking beautiful pictures and giving them to me to post them on the site. In due time, many more pictures will be posted here.

Here is a few to begin with:

Hello dear chess fans!

Welcome back. This is the final report for the March Open Chess Tournament of 2010. We would like to thank all the players who played and participated in this lovely event. I would also like to Congratulate the winner, Mr. BADER AL HAJERI for winning the tournament.

He won in the last round quite easily as it seemed. Mr. Afifi sacrificed a whole piece in the opening and did not seem to have any real compensation. The game did not last too long.

The game that was most surprising was Nasser Al Maqseed versus Florentino Silao on board 2. Florentino tried to push really hard against Maqseed. But Maqseed defended quite solidly and managed to force a DRAW! Every one who was watching the game was stunned. Even Naser himself said the other day, “I’m going to lose against him.” Surprisingly, he played like a master and defended like one as well. This Left Florentino Silao with only 5.5 points. Whilst Bader won his loast round leaving him with a total of 6 points. Bare in mind that Bader only lost to Waleed Al Awadhi on round 2.

As for the top players, I would like to first congratulate Bader Al Hajeri for winning the tournament with a score of 6.0 / 7. Florentino Silao came in second place with a score of 5.5/7. Ibrahim Shehab, Faizur Rahman, and Zakariya Afifi came after them with each scoring 5.0 points out of 7.

The cash prizes are as follows: 1st – $200, 2nd – $150, 3rd – $100, 4th – $50, 5th – $5o.

Pictures will be made available when I receive them. Ahmad Hosni has taken a few pictures and will send them to me as soon as he can. I will post them on this article when they arrive.

Here is the FINAL STANDINGS:

1. BADER AL HAJERI 6.0 PTS  **CONGRATULATIONS!!!**
2. FLORENTINO SILAO 5.5 PTS
3. IBRAHIM SHEHAB 5.0 PTS
4. FAIZUR RAHMAN
5. ZAKARIYA AFIFI
6. Nasser Al Maqseed
7. Ahmed Hosni
8. Ala’a Abdul Latif
9. Waleed Al Awadhi 4.5 PTS
10. Basir Cosain
11. Fayiq Kanan 4.0 PTS
12. Khaled Al Hashem
13. Eid Mohamed
14. Dr. Al Shikh
15. Abdulwahab Al Atiqi
16. Sajan Vargughese
17. Taher Al Khateeb 3.0 PTS
18. Nizar Kanan
19. Reda Ahmad
20. Mohamed Qabazard
21. Nour Al Dien
22. Yousif Yousif 2.5 PTS
23. Magdi Tawfiq 2.0 PTS
24. Amer Al Amer
25. Mohamed Abdul Mohsin
26. Omran Al Moussawi
27. Ashraf Dawoud 1 PTS
28. Raed Ahmadiya
29. Khalid Al Jiwasri
30. Abdullah Salah
31. Dr. Asim
32. Khaled Al Harees — PTS
33. Ali Al Sakkaf
34. Ali AL Aldin
35. Nasir Bahamany

It’s a few minutes past midnight, so I guess I could say that “tonights” games will be the final round for the March Open Chess Tournament of 2010.

Here’s a quick round up of what happened. Bader Al Hajeri, unsurprisingly defeated Florentino Silao leaving both players with 5.0 points each. Now there are several players vowing for the top spots. If Silao wins tonight, then he will be crowned champion, even if Bader Al Hajeri wins as well. If on the other hand Bader wins and Silao draws, then Bader will win. So Basically, the games on the top three boards will be cut-throat.

We also have Nasser Al Maqseed and Waleed Al Awadhi playing on the top boards as well. In the end, the scores are so close that it’s anybody’s game.

Anyways, here is the final round pairing: And as you can see, there are only 11 boards left. It’s funny that in 7 rounds, we lost 30% of the players. We started with 32 players and now we are down to 22 players (I think less even).

Round 7 Pairings: (no scores available. Final standing will be made available soon.)

1. Bader Al Hajeri vs. Zakariya Afifi
2. Florentino Silao vs. Naser Al Maqsed
3. Ibrahim Shehab vs. Waleed Al Awadhi
4. Eid Mohamed vs. Ahmed Hosni
5. Fayiq Kanan vs. Faizur Rahman
6. Basir Cosain vs. Ala’a Abdul Latif
7. Khaled Al Hashem vs. Taher Al Khateeb
8. Nizar Kanan vs. Nour Al Dein
9. Dr. Al Shikh vs. Sajan Vargughese
10. Abdulwahab Al Atiqi vs. Maqdi Tawfiq
11. Amer Al Amer vs. Reda Ahmad

Welcome back folks.

The tournament is almost over. With just two rounds left, we can easily see who might be the top 5 players.

Yesternight, after the games were finished, only 1 person remained with a perect score of 5.0 out of 5 rounds.

And a big round of applause and a heartly Congratulations to Florentino Silao for remaining the only undefeated player. On Saturday evening, Florentino will be playing white against the top seed of the tournament, Bader Al Hajeri.

And speaking of Bader Al Hajeri. He was supposed to play Faizur Rahman on the 5th round. Even though he did eventually play, the game didn’t last more then 10 minutes. The reason you ask? Simply put, apparently Faizur forgot about the game and he arrived at 8:03PM! He was late for more than an hour. He was lucky because he still had 3 minutes on his clock. Well, against Bader Al Hajeri, that’s already a lose. Though Faizur did put up a good fight. He lost on time and to be honest, on position as well.

Here is a quick update: One player has perfect 5.0/5. Four players have a score of 4.0/4. And two players have 3.5/4.

My guess is that those with a score of four and above might be on the champs. Anything less at this moment, might not get anybody anything. However, this is just a guess. A lot can happen in two rounds.

Anyways, here’s the pairing for the next round (Saturday).

1. Florentino Silao (5.0 PTS) vs. Bader Al Hajeri (4.0PTS)
2. Zakariya Afifi vs. Ibrahim Shehab
3. Waleed Al Awadhi (3.5 PTS) vs. Fayiq Kanan
4. Taher Al Khateeb (3.0 PTS) vs. Nasir Al Maqseed
5. Ahmed Hosni vs. Mohamed Qabazard
6. Faizur Rahman vs. Nizar Kanan
7. Nour Al Dien vs. Eid Mohammed
8. Ala’a Abdul Latif  vs. Khaled Al Hashem
9. Yousef Ahmed (2.5 PTS) vs. Mohamed Abdulmohsin
10. Reda Ahmad (2.0 PTS) vs. Basir Cosain
11. Sajan Vargughese vs. Magdi Tawfiq
12. Amer Al Amer vs. Abdulwahab Al Atiqi
13. Dr. Al Shikh 1:0 BYE

As you can see, only 13 boards from the original 19 remain. Remember, if you are absent twice, then you will be disqualified from the tournament. But one thing is for sure, now most of the players will be playing and no seat be truly be left open. This will make it a more exciting tournament for the rest of the players.

Hello dear chess fans. This will be a quick report.

Tonight at 7:00PM, round 5 will take place. That means there are only 2 rounds to go (not countingt the 5th).

After the last round, only two players remain undefeated. They are Fayiq Kanan and Florentino Silao.

Bader Al Hajeri, the top seed of the tournament, won on his last game and quickly making a come back. The real question is whether or not he can make a comeback strong enough to win the tournament.

Fayiq Kanan has shown that he no simple player. He defeated the Kuwaiti Champion of 2002 in wonderful game. He also has shown he can keep up with any of the other strong players. Florentino Silao is his opponent tonight. Will Silao defeat the undefeatable?

Update 1: This weekend, I will upload many pictures and games played in this tournament and in the past tournament. So keep tuned in to KuwaitChess.Net.

Round 5 Pairing:

1. Fayiq Kanan vs. Florentino Silao (4.0 PTS)
2. Bader Al Hajeri vs. Faizur Rahman (3.0 PTS)
3. Taher Al Khateeb vs. Zakariya Afifi
4. Ibrahim Shehab vs. Ahmed Hosni
5. Nizar Kanan vs. Waleed Al Awadhi (2.5 PTS)
6. Nasir Al Maqseed vs. Yousif Ahmed
7. Nour Al Dein vs. Mohamed Abdulmohsin (2.0 PTS)
8. Eid Mohamed vs. Sajan Vargughese
9. Khaled Al Hashem vs. Reda Ahmad
10. Magdi Tawfiq vs. Ala’a Abdul Latif
11. Mohamed Qabazard vs. Dr. Al Shikh
12. Ashraf Majed vs. Basir Cosain (1.5 PTS)
13. Amer Al Amer vs. Raed Al Ahmadiya (1.0 PTS)
14. Abdulwahab Al Atiqi vs. Abdullah Salah

Another night of chess games finished this evening. The end result is that only four out of the 31 players remain undefeated. And those top four players are all playing on the top two boards. They are: Florentino Silao, Fairuz Rahman, Ahmed Hosni, and Fayiq Kanan.

Apart from the undefeated players, Bader Al Hajeri, the top seed of this tournament, sacrificed his queen and bishop for a lovely checkmating combination that Basir Cosain overlooked.

Taher Al Khateeb was not so lucky today against Fayiq Kanan. Taher sacrificed a rook, bishop, and knight for a queen. Turned out great for Fayiq. Initially, Taher was on the complete offensive. And Fayiq defended wonderfully. In fact, during this attack, Fayiq managed to gobble up a few pawns free. And in the end, Fayiq claimed an excellent win against one of the champs of Kuwait.

Other surprises was that Ahmad Jad Al Rab was able to visit the players today. He was spotted analyzing Ibrahim Shehab’s game against Florentino Silao. Shehab was playing on board 1 and Silao won this round as well.

Anyways, I know you are mainly in this site to view the pairings for the next round, which will be on Monday at 7:00PM.

1. Florentino Silao vs. Faizur Rahman (3.0 PTS)
2. Ahmed Hosni vs. Fayiq Kanan
3. Reda Ahmed vs. Bader Al Hajeri (2.0 PTS)
4. Mohamed Abdulmohsin vs. Nizar Kanan
5. Taher Al Khateeb vs. Mohamed Qabazard
6. Ala’a Abdul-latif vs. Ibrahim Shehab
7. Walid Al Awadhi vs. Nasir Maqseed
8. Zakariya Afifi vs. Eid Mohamed
9. Sajan Vargughese vs. Yousif Ahmed (1.5 PTS)
10. Basir Cosain vs. Khaled Al Hashem (1.0 PTS)
11. Nour Al Dein vs. Abdullah Salah
12. Dr. Al Shikh vs. Abdulwahab Al Atiqi
13. Omran A Moussawi vs. Ashraf Majed
14. Magdi Tawfiq vs. Raed Al Ahmadiya
15. Khalid Al Jiwasri vs. Amer Al Amer
16. Dr. Asim 1:0 BYE

Here is a couple of questions for you guys that might determine how the next tournament might be like…

Take your time to answer them.

Hello again loyal chess-fans of Kuwait and beyond,

Here is an update to the tournament that is currently being held in the Kuwait Chess Federation. Due to the low number of participants, the number of rounds have been reduced from 9 til 7. And the playing days is now 3 days a week instead of 4 days as initially posted.

Also in the other news, an unbelievable game was played yesternight between Waleed Al Awadhi (white) and Bader Al Hajeri (black). It ended in a rather short period. It took only 32 moves till Al Hajeri resigned! Yes, you read it right. Bader Al Hajeri was defeated yesterday in a quick game. As Bader said in the post-game analysis, I was making too many mistakes from early on. I knew the best move, but I didn’t play it. He also said, he made at least 5 major mistakes.

These mistakes cost Al Hajeri the game. But not the tournament. If the top-seed of the tournament lost, that truly does mean that the trophy is truly anybody’s. Come down and join us for a couple of games. It is sad to have a limited amount of players. But in a way, it gives it a different feel.

Without further adieu, here’s the pairings for round 3:

1. Ibrahim Shehab vs. Florentino Silao
2. Fayiq Kanan vs. Taher Al Khateeb
3. Ahmed Hosni vs. Waleed Al Awadhi
4. Faizur Rahman vs. Reda Ahmed
5. Bader Al Hajeri vs. Basir Cosain
6. Khaled Al Hashem vs. Moh’d Abdulmohsin
7. Eid Mohamed vs. Dr. Ahmed Al Shikh
8. Ashraf Majed vs. Ala’a AbduLatif
9. Abdullah Salah vs. Nizar Kanan
10. Abdulwahab Al Atiqi vs. Zakariya Afifi
11. Nasser Maqseed vs. Magdi Tawfiq
12. Khaled Al Jiwasri vs. Sajan Vargughese
13. Ra’ed Al Ahmadya vs. Yousif Ahmed
14. Nour Al Dein vs. Dr. Asim Ahmed
15. Omran Al Moussawi vs. Amer Al Amer

IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ:

• NUMBER OF ROUNDS REDUCED TO 7
• 3 GAMES PER WEEK.
• NEXT ROUND STARTS ON SATURDAY AT 7:00PM

Hello everybody. I will try my exteme best to keep this blog up-to-date with the latest happenings with the current tournament. So today, we saw the begining of the last tournament before the summer. And so far, only a couple dozen of people were able to register for this tournament. A total of 32 individuals signed up for the event. However, some of the top players in Kuwait are no where to be seen. The following champs: Ahmad Jad Al Rab, Dennis Poliquit, Ferdinand Bugay, Ferdinand Laming, Hani Samieh, and Ahmad Emad Taha are no where in sight. Apparently, thier work schedule didn’t allow them to play.

In short, this tournament is really anybody’s tournament. Hopefully we will see some tough action on the top boards.

Anyways, here’s the pairing for next week:

1. Waleed Al Awadhi vs. Bader Al Hajeri
2. Florentino Silao vs. Eid Mohammed
3. Reda Ahmad vs. Moh’d Abdulmohsin
4. Taher Al Khateeb vs. Ala’a Abdulaitf
5. Nizar Kanan vs. Ahmad Hosni
6. Faizur Rahman vs. Moh’d Qabazard
7. Sajan Vareghuese vs. Ibrahim Shehab
8. Fayiq Kanan vs. Khalid Al Jiwasri
9. Basir Cosain vs. Nasir Al Maqseed
10. Khaled Al Hashem vs. Yousig Ahmed
11. Khaled Al Harees vs. Nour Eldin
12. Amer Al Amer vs. Abdulla Salah
13. Abdulwahab Al Atiqi vs. Dr. Asim Al Din
14. Dr. Ahmed Al Shikh vs. Omran AL Moussawi
15. Ashref Majed vs. Ali Hassan
16. Raed Al Ahmadiya vs. Ali Al Sakkaf

The Kuwait Chess Federation is sponsoring tournament starting next week.

Here are the details:

• The tournament starts on Monday the 29th of March.
• Starting Times: 7:00PM every round.
• Rounds: 9
• Time Control: 60 min + 20 sec.
• Entrance Fee: 5 KD
• Prizes: The prize fund is $600 and the top 5 players get cash rewards. 
• With 1st place getting $200!

Registration: OPEN! Contact Sami Ayoub to register. His number is 6666 1949.

Tournament Dates: (4 games a week)

• Round 1: Monday – 29/03
• Round 2: Wednesday – 31/03
• Round 3: Thursday – 01/04
• Round 4: Saturday – 03/04
• Round 5: Monday – 05/04
• Round 6: Wednesday – 07/04
• Round 7: Thursday – 08/04
• Round 8: Saturday – 10/04
• Round 9: Monday 12/04 + Prize Distribution (After the games are done!)

Registration: OPEN! Contact Sami Ayoub to register. His number is 6666 1949.

P.S.

• I will need some help updating the site. If you would like to volunteer.

• Please send me your contact information via email.

• kuwaitchess@gmail.com