Al Ain Classic
18 – 27 December, 2014
Al Ain, UAE

It is that time of the year – Wijk-aan-Zee is securely upon us.

While embarking on the chess event that will predominate January, still early in the New Year, we could have a look at a tournament that concluded just a couple of days before the end of the past 2014.

The Al Ain Classic, in the United Arab Emirates, unfolded from 18 – 27 December, in a small city on the border with Oman, which, in geographical terms, is the biggest oasis in the Eastern side of the Arabian Desert. Today it is a genteel city in which the urban planning allows only a couple of storey high houses, with no skyscraper on the horizon – just a villa type residential buildings, and plenty, plenty of palm trees, greenery, flowers and parks which earned it a moniker ‘a garden city.’ At 120 km from the bustling wonder of Dubai, this is where the real UAE can be experienced.

The Hili Rayhaan by Rotana, a 5-star hotel, provided superb playing and living atmosphere for 151 players from 27 chess federations; 43 grandmasters of whom 17 in the high rating category above 2600.

A bit of history:

Al Ain Classic had started as a side event to the 2012 World Cities Chess Team Championship. On that occasion, it had introduced a unique format: players eliminated from the knock-out team competition could join carrying over their points to the individual Swiss. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who was eliminated by Romain Edouard in the main event, was the winner of the first Al Ain Classic.

The following year, the Al Ain Classic ran along the World Youth Championship, at the impressive Al Ain football stadium. Indian grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta was the winner.

GM Abhijeet Gupta and reporter Diana Mihajlova were met at the Dubai airport by the organiser’s representatives, Louai, Mohamed and Ahmed

Being always annexed, as a shadow to a bigger chess event, the Al Ain Classic may have died out if its Tournament Director, Tarek Al Taher, had not persevered to convince the authorities to give it a go as a separate chess competition, to run in its own right as an individual international open tournament. That is exactly what has been achieved with its recently concluded third edition.

It is a ‘young’ tournament compared to the well established Dubai Open and the Abu Dhabi Festival in the UAE, but if the prize fund is any indication, it is already taking over. With a $50,000 prize fund, of which the top prize is $11,000, it has already eclipsed them both however slightly, and, according to Dr Saif Alnuaimi, the chief of the organising committee, the prize fund is set to increase next year.

Dr Saif Alnuaimi, head of the Organising committee, Tarek Al Taher, the Tournament’s Director and the chief arbiter Ashot Vardapetyan (ARM) who also arbitrated at the 2013 World Championship Match, Carlsen-Anand.

The Royal Family representatives and the Al Ain Chess and Culture club officials performed the 1st move, thus officially opening the 3rd Al Ain Classic. On the board, the highest seed, GM Kryvoruchko Yuriy (UKR) and the Emirati young chess hope, FM Mayed Alrashedi

The following video represents a gallery of players in the playing hall and around the superb Hili Ratana hotel

Video by Diana Mihajlova http://youtu.be/ucVXhW-NG-0

On the occasion of the superb Opening ceremony, a typical UAE traditional dance, ‘Ayyalah’, was performed. Known as ‘stick dance’ or ‘cane dance’, it is performed by groups of men, positioned in straight lines with their arms linked together, who sing and make short rhythmical movements holding long sticks with a hook at the end, resembling a cane, called ‘assaya’. Swords and old fashioned rifles are also used symbolically to re-enact battles. At one point during the performance, suddenly, long-haired teenage girls climbed on the stage and started dancing by swinging their long hair from side to side while swaying their bodies following the strong bit of the music. It was a powerful experience of dance, music and tradition. Tradition holds it that the hair is used as a symbol of women’s beauty that man fought to protect.

The key person for the success of the Al Ain Classic as well as chess in general in this part of the world is the Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Shakhboot Al Nahyan. Equally charming, friendly and professional and truly dedicated to chess, he is President of the Al Ain Chess and Culture club as well as of the Asian Chess Federation, which is an official branch of FIDE.

Under his auspices, Al Ain has already hosted many prestigious chess events of local and international character and many more are planned to fill the rich chess life of the country.

Diana Mihajlova and the UAE’s extraordinary chess promoter, the Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Shakhboot Al Nahyan

The Sheikh Sultan visited the tournament on a couple of occasions and attended the Prize giving ceremony to deliver prizes to the winners.

Every now and then, an obscure player from the lower echelons would lift the cup leaving behind a pack of much higher rated GMs. That was the case of Georgian GM Gaoiz Nigalidze (2536) who at the Al Ain Classic emerged as a surprise winner. Having started as a 28th seed, by the 6th round he was already a sole leader with 5,5/6 and a performance of 2889. Among his victims were GMs above 2600 – Alexander Areshchenko, Abhijeet Gupta and Yuriy Kuzubov.

Actually, four players finished with 7/9: Gaioz Nigalidze (GEO), Tigran L Petrosian (ARM), Vladimir Onischuk (UKR) and Sergei Zhigalko (BLR). Nigalidze won on a tie-break the whole of the $11,000 first prize.

While The Emirates fascinate us with the state-of-the-art chess clubs, the greatest example being the Sharjah chess club, biggest in the world and an architectural masterpiece, Emirati players are relatively new on the international chess circuit with, so far, their only active GM, the Emirati star, Salem A.R. Saleh. At the rapid tournament which took place the day before the start of the Open, Saleh beat a strong field of international grandmasters and took first place. He did not play in the main event, probably for good reasons. An important tournament was looming for him that he needed all his energy and preparations: the Tata Steel Challengers in Wijk-aan-Zee where Salem is currently playing.

Some curiosity: few years back, I reported on a unique prize awarded at the Paris Open Championship – for the most elegantly dressed player. Here, in Al Ain we have another dalliance from the usual awards: two players were awarded a prize for a ‘best score sheet’. It is a logical demonstration of national characteristics – France insists on elegance and neat appearance, and the Arabs insist on neat handwriting, inspired by their appreciation of calligraphy. Considering how ineligible some score sheets can be (a psychology branch holds ineligible handwriting a mental disturbance) it is a worthy attempt to encourage a ‘clean’ presentation of your moves.

Awarded for their handwriting: Indians, IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman and WFM Rucha Pujari

Video 2, by Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh: summary, interviews with players, press coverage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o9LwcHyymY

The Al Ain Classic has all ingredients to become part of the more prestigious tournaments in the world. Probably many foreign players are put off from taking the plunge to travel to this far away land hinged by the preconceived idea that it might be too expensive. However, it compares favourably to even the most expensive chess destinations (Ginbraltar etc. ) And a couple of low-cost air lines fly to the Dubai airports. Not only it offers a chess adventure in the company of a high number of titled players, but also an unforgettable experience with the fascinating historical, geographical and cultural heritage of the wondrous United Arab Emirates.

Official tournament site: http://alainchess.com/wp/al-ain-classic-2014/

Official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AlAinOpen

Final standings:
http://chess-results.com/tnr149978.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&flag=30&wi=821

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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