Formula One: the Abu Dhabi Chess Festival

The Abu Dhabi Chess Club organized its annual Chess Festival from 12th – 20th August 2010. The Ramadan event began in 1990, and this year's quirk was that the games started at 10:00 p.m. every night, in keeping with the traditions of the holy month where Muslims fast from sunrise until sunset. The tournament was held as part of the Armed Forces Ramadan Club competitions.

Above is part of the Ramadan Competitions poster

Boxing, judo, wrestling, karate, bowling, swimming, men's and women's football, hockey, chess and even FIFA Football are all part of an official competition here!

Still, no game can compare with chess, not even with the inclusion of computers and technology

Masters Tournament

In the Masters Tournament this year, 26 players were invited; including ten GMs, four IMs, six FMs and one WFM. In total, they represented ten countries, with one player from the United Arab Emirates, five from India, four from Armenia, three from Egypt , three from Iran, three from Azerbaijan and one player each from Belgium, Georgia, Morocco, Russia, Syria and Ukraine. Top seed was GM Anton Korobov (2657) of Ukraine, followed by GM Gadir Gusseinov (2611) of Azerbaijan.

Mohammed Helal Al-Kabbi (center,) Organizing Committee Chairman & Manager of the Abu Dhabi Officers Club, starting the clock on top board between GM Korobov of Ukraine and FM Sharbaf of Iran. Looking on are Salah Al Soloomi (right), Tournament Director, and Hussein Khouri (left,) Member of Organizing committee and Head of the Open and Masters Tournaments.

Top seed grandmaster Anton Korobov (2657) of Ukraine finished first with 6.5 out of 9 and a performance rating of 2640, losing only one game to GM Amin Bassem of Egypt.

International Arbiter Tariq Khoury and International Organizer Hussein Khoury
awarding the champion’s trophy to Anton Korobov.

GM Gadir Gusseinov receiing his prize from Abu Dhabi Chess Club Executive
Director IA Zuair Ahmed of Syria.

Second seed GM Gadir Guseinov (2611) of Azerbaijan won the Blitz Tournament. He started one round late in the Masters tournament and then made two draws. In the fourth round he lost in a winning position against Antonio from India. He finally made 5.5 points and finished eighth.

Guseinov,G (2611) - Antonio,V (2208) [B23]
Ramadan Master Open Abu Dhabi UAE (4), 15.08.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Bb5 Bd7 6.Bxc6 Bxc6 7.Bg5 Nf6 8.0-0-0 e6 9.f4 Be7 10.Nf3 h6 11.Bh4 0-0 12.Qd3 Rc8 13.Nd4 Qa5 14.f5 Rfe8 15.Rhe1 a6 16.Kb1 Bd7 17.Nb3 Qc7 18.e5 Nd5 19.Bxe7 Rxe7 20.f6 Ree8 21.Qg3 g6 22.Rd3 dxe5 23.Qh4 Kh7

24.Nd2? [Deep Fritz 11 gives 24.Rh3 h5 25.Qg5 Nf4 26.Rh4 Qb6 27.Rxe5 Qg1+ 28.Nc1 Rc4 29.Rxf4 Rxf4 30.Qxf4 Qxg2 31.a3 Bc6 32.Nd3 Qf3 33.Qh4 +4.32/24] 24...Rh8 [DF11: 0.00] 25.Nf3 Bb5 26.Rd2 Nxc3+ 27.bxc3 Qxc3 28.Re4 Kg8 29.Qe1 Rc4

30.Re3?? Rb4+ 0-1 because of mate in one.

Antonio Viani D'cunha (2208) of India made an IM Norm. His father works in Dubai, and so he regularly comes from India to the UAE to play in open tournaments.

FIDE Master Jasim Al-Huwar of UAE, elder brother of GM Salem A.R., made his third IM Norm in this tournament. Recently he was transferred from Sharjah Chess Club to Abu Dhabi Chess Club being the first professional chess player in the U.A.E.

FIDE Master Mohsen Sharbaf of Iran also made his third IM norm. His favorite red t-shirt perhaps inflicted performance angst in his opponents: “Nobody is Perfect, I am Nobody!”

Open Tournament

86 Players from 19 Countries competed in the Open Tournament. Since no player was rated over 2199, the time control was 60 min. + 30 sec. and it could be rated! Final Ranking after nine rounds:

Ayyad Hussein 2165 of Bahrain was the sole winner of the Open tournament, scoring 8 points out of nine games, including one draw with his brother Maher.

The elder brother of the champion was Maher who played in this tournament and finished tenth with six points. He got the gold medal on Board 4 at the Bled Olympiad 2002 with eight points out of ten games. Here you can see him trying to make some music on the chessboard

Paul Dragan (2147) of the UK finished third. He works in Abu Dhabi as a management consultant

FIDE Master Ahmad Abbas Khoury from Abu Dhabi with seven points finished fourth

Women’s Tournament

A round robin of ten players from seven countries, include two IMs.

The champion: IM Nona Gurieli (2329) of Georgia won the Ladies Tournament with 8.5/9

IM Anna Zozulia from Belgium, wife of GM Malakhatko, who shared first in the Women’s
Tournament with 8.5 out of 9 points, receives her trophy from the UAE Health Minister

WFM Kholood Zarooni (1867), vice champion of UAE in 2010, finished third in the Women’s Tournament

S. Shiva Gunal of India won the Junior Tournament with seven points out of nine games

The youngest participants also received prizes

Official sponsors of Abu Dhabi Chess Club from Zadco, Gasco and Adco watch the game of FM Ibrahim Khoury, a talented player from Abu Dhabi, who gained more than 25 rating points in this tournament. His opponent Alexander Raetsky is also his coach. Raetsky won in a drawish endgame.

16-year-old Niusha Afshar (1904) of Iran finished 9th in the Open Tournament

Asian Under 10 champion FM Mohammad Amin Tabatabaee of Iran scored six points and finished 17th

Tournament director Hussein Khoury giving an interview to Abu Dhabi Sport Channel

Tour for players and guests to the Formula One Track on Yas Island

On Saturday, 19 August, the organizers invited players and guests to go on a tour of Yas Island and the most expensive Formula One Track in the world. It was hot, but that didn't detract from the captivating tour.

On the finish line on the Formula One track

It was possible to get into the models, but not the actual race cars

The car’s body seems so simple

This is a real Formula One car. It only weighs 500 kg, and the driver sits horizontally. He told us that if we were to remove the spoilers it would take off and fly!

The Formula One cars race around the whole track more than 50 times, and it takes more than two hours

In order to take corners they have to get their speed down from 370 km/h to 200 km/h in under 150 meters

The Hotel Yas: a seven-star hotel. The cars zoom past under the bridge and guests
can watch the race from there.

The Yas Hotel is lit up at night. The lights on the hotel, which look like a fishing net,
are a separate structure covering it from the hot sun.

Every frame has its own colour, which is computer controlled and can be changed at any time

Links

• Download PGN file with all available games
• Photo Albums: 1, 2, 3
• Pairings & Results of Master Tournament
• Pairings & Results of Open Tournament
• Pairings & Results of Junior Tournament
• Pairing & Results of Women Tournament
• Pairing & Results of Blitz Tournament