Surprise!! No champion till tomorrow
In every championship surprises are always present, and this 2013 edition is no exception. In a thrilling game on board 1 between Ibrahim Chahrour and Dr. ahmoud Maasarani, the tension grew with every move. Some modest moves by Ibrahim permitted Dr. Mahmoud to launch a strong attack against Ibrahim’s king, an attack that enabled the former to collect 2 pieces for a rook with a continuous initiative. Dr. Maasarani missed a golden opportunity to bag in the point, permitted Ibrahim to return to the game. The pressure on both players was too high, the proof was, the endgame phase, the blunder made by Dr. Mahamoud and missed by Ibrahim. With 2 lonely kings remaining on the board, the peace was signed.
While Ahmad Najjar, using the White pieces on board 2, outplayed Bassel Charaf in a technical endgame, Antoine Kassis, playing White on board 3, was surprised by Amr ElJawish’ ‘choice of classical variation of the Open Sicilian. Tony adopted the dangerous Velimirovic attack against Amr’ setup. Just one imprecise move by Tony was enough for Amr to seize the initiative and develop a dangerous attack against Tony’s king. The pieces deployment by Black is a clear witness of Amr’s level. Faced with mating threats, Tony was forced to lose materials and the game. This loss cost him a chance to play a tie-break match for the title with the leaders Najjar and Chahrour.
While Maya Jalloul forfeited her game against AbdelAziz ElMahmoud on board 4, Nadim Hammoud, playing with the black pieces on board 5 against Tarek Moudallal, sacrificed a pawn on move 15, a sacrifice that was accepted by Tarek, who hanged on the extra pawn, to reach the endgame phase with a clear advantage. All what he needed was to exchange rooks in order to kill any counter play by Black so that he can activate his king. But he missed the only opportunity to do it. Instead of bishop endgame, a rook endgame was reached, in which Nadim profited from his dangerous passed f-pawn to force Tarek so stop the clocks.
The Englund gambit is famous in inter-clubs, rapid, blitz or other much less important events. But to be adopted by a player as a surprise weapon in a national championship, in the last round, and against Faisal Khairallah demanded from Marwan Nassar a lot of courage. A pawn is a pawn, and a space advantage is a great advantage. Faisal bagged in the pawn, obtaining a clear positional advantage as an extra bonus. Marwan tried to complicate the position as much as he could, but Faisal was up to the task, and collected the game point.
Click here to download all the games of the championship.
Round 11 results:
| SNo. | Name | Rtg | Res. | Name | Rtg | SNo. | ||
| 6 | FM | Chahrour Ibrahim | 1980 | ½ - ½ | Maasarani Mahmoud | 2109 | 12 | |
| 7 | FM | Najjar Ahmad | 2263 | 1 - 0 | Bassel Charaf | 2070 | 5 | |
| 8 | FM | Kassis Antoine | 2166 | 0 - 1 | FM | El Jawich Amro | 2173 | 4 |
| 9 | CM | Abdulaziz Mahmoud | 2074 | 1F - 0F | WFM | Jalloul Maya M. | 1942 | 3 |
| 10 | Moudallal Tarek | 1968 | 0 - 1 | Hammoud Nadim | 1944 | 2 | ||
| 11 | FM | Khairallah Faisal | 2271 | 1 - 0 | Nassar Marwan | 2091 | 1 |
Final Standing:
| Rank | SNo. | Name | IRtg | Pts | Wins | Draws | Loses | Res. | Koya | SB | Rtg+/- | ||
| 1 | 6 | FM | Chahrour Ibrahim | 1980 | 8.0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 38.00 | 62 | |
| 2 | 7 | FM | Najjar Ahmad | 2263 | 8.0 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 36.00 | -2 | |
| 3 | 8 | FM | Kassis Antoine | 2166 | 7.5 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0.0 | 4.5 | 40.75 | 12 | |
| 4 | 11 | FM | Khairallah Faisal | 2271 | 6.5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 34.50 | -26 | |
| 5 | 5 | Bassel Charaf | 2070 | 6.5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 32.75 | 19 | ||
| 6 | 9 | CM | Abdulaziz Mahmoud | 2074 | 6.5 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 32.25 | 13 | |
| 7 | 4 | FM | El Jawich Amro | 2173 | 6.0 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 28.00 | -12 | |
| 8 | 12 | Maasarani Mahmoud | 2109 | 6.0 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 25.25 | 2 | ||
| 9 | 10 | Moudallal Tarek | 1968 | 3.5 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 15.25 | -13 | ||
| 10 | 1 | Nassar Marwan | 2091 | 3.5 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 14.00 | -21 | ||
| 11 | 2 | Hammoud Nadim | 1944 | 2.5 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 8.00 | -25 | ||
| 12 | 3 | WFM | Jalloul Maya M. | 1942 | 1.5 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 10.25 | -23 |
The tie-break match between Ibrahim Chahrour and Ahmad Najjar will be played on Saturday. We are waiting the organizers to announce the time and the place of it.