Teenage local hero GM Salem R. Saleh (left) receiving the winner’s trophy from Asian Chess Federation president Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifah Al Nahyan.
Saleh finished alone in first place with 6.5 points out of 9 rounds in the Zone 3.1 Zonal Championship held 4-13 July 2011 in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. WIM Shayesteh Ghaderpour of Iran won the Women’s Zonal in an exciting playoff match by a score of 2-1. See results and standings in chess-results.com for the Open and Women’s Zonals. See photo gallery in Asian Chess Federation web site. Visit official Sharjah Chess Club web site (in Arabic) for online games.
Salem Abdulrahman is the first from the UAE to qualify for the World cup. He won his last three games in the Zonal to grab the lead in the homestretch as erstwhile leaders GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran and GM Mohammed Al Sayed of Qatar faltered, both losing to spoiler FM Ayyad Husain of Bahrain.
In the Women’s Zonal, WIM Ghader Pour Shayesteh and WIM Haimifard Ghazal, both of Iran, finished with 7.5 points each in the round robin to force a playoff match.
Nice job!