Elie Asmar leads – temporarily

Due to his win, with the black pieces, over Ahmad Najjar and the adjourned Amro El Jawish – Faisal Khairallah game, Elie is now leading the event with 6 points out of 8 without any draw! The early endgame was somewhat tipped in his favor due to better control of the center, even with the doubled isolated e-pawns. Ahmad’s always optimistic play led him to an inferior Rook endgame, and the will to win (again!) pushed him to the abyss of the defeat.

Not just Elie, but Tarek Moudallal is also playing chess without compromise. The word (Draw) is not in their dictionary. Tarek’s king’s Indian setup against Marwan Nassar’s London system is an exemplary middle one, where the power of his pieces was directed towards Marwan’s king side that lakes support from his army. By sacrificing his rook for the dark squares bishop, eliminating the only defender of the white king, Tarek culminates his attack by winning the white queen, and the game point.

Who said that the (Queen’s Gambit – Exchange variation) is boring? Not the sort of. Just take a look at the encounter between Mahdi Kaouri and Ralph Khairallah. Every contender wants to mate his opponent’s king. The tension was so high and the position was so complicated, to a certain extend that the winning advantage switched from one side to another. It was too difficult to calculate all the lines till the end. Unfortunately for Ralph, he was he who made the last mistake, putting his king in a mating net.

The first game to finish in this round was Antoine Kassis – AbdelAziz Mahmoud. It was interesting to watch this game. Antoine was taking his time to calculate the variations and evaluating the position, may be he felt that there was something wrong in his opening preparation, as AbdelAziz was blitzing his moves at a bullet speed. Sometimes, this type of play may backfire, as the later missed the strong 13…Ng4 (instead of 13…c4?!). The mass exchanges that follow guided them to sign the peace.

Another peace agreement was signed between Marwan Sharbel and Samir Sursock. Samir played the Benko Gambit system against Marwan’ Smyslov variation, obtaining the desired initiative on the queen side. The reached rook endgame was too advantageous for Samir that it was a pity, by playing (32..Rb5?!) followed by the draw offer (instead of 32..,Kd7!)  to throw away the half point.

The most awaited encounter between Amr and Faisal will be played tonight as it is  a rest day. Its result will have a big impact on the standing and the players’ strategy to adopted for the remaining 3 rounds. Let’s wait and see.

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