Salem prepares for World Cup
27 July 2013
UAE’s top chess player and star, Grand Master Salem Abdulrahman, has started his preparation for the World Cup, which will begin on the 10th of August in Norway.
The UAE Chess Federation has recently signed Dutch Grand Master Van Welly (rated 45th in the world) to be the personal coach for Salem.
Salem is currently participating in Beil Chess Festival (Switzerland) as part of his preparation for the World Cup. During the 4th round, the young star showed a high-class performance and defeated Croatian Grand Master Saric Ivan with white pieces, to lead the tournament with 3.5 points with five other players.
Emirates Airlines, the top class international carrier, is sponsoring the young star during his participation in Beil Chess Festival as part of the sponsorship agreement signed with the UAE Chess Federation earlier this month. “Emirates is, of course, more used to dealing with check-ins than checkmates, but we wish Salem all the best as he travels around the world representing the UAE,” said Badr Abbas, Emirates’ Vice President, Commercial Operations, UAE. “Chess is one of the exciting offerings on our 1400-channel ice entertainment system, so even at 40,000 feet, Salem will never be too far away from the game.”
“This sponsorship will definitely boost the players performance and will support him to break new records,” said Abdulrkarim Al Marzoqi, head of technical commitee at UAE Chess Federation. So far this year, Salem (Freshman at Sharjah University) has managed to achieve a great victory for the UAE by winning the silver medal in Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in South Korea.
“ In 2006, I was received by General Shaikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for winning the Arab Championship for under-14. I promised him I would work hard to win more models and tournaments, and I kept my word. Since then, I managed to be the youngest Arab Grand Master, won Asian Junior championship 3 times, Arab championship 6 times, and bronze medal in World Junior Championship under 20 in 2010. I still got to work on my weaknesses,” said Salem .
Source: http://www.khaleejtimes.com
Good luck!