Local hero GM Salem A. R. Saleh won the Dubai Open Blitz Chess Championship held Friday at the Dubai Chess Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The 20-year-old Salem finished with 7.5 points out of 9 rounds, in a tie with GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili of Georgia but prevailing in the tie break with more number of victories. Salem takes home the Axiom Cup and the lion’s share of the $4,000 prize fund. 

On the way to his victory, Salem beat Adarsh Saji of India in round 1, Al Shamisi Hareb Nasser of the UAE in round 2, GM Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine in round 3, stumbled against GM Amin Bassem of Egypt in round 4, beat FM Das Sayantan of India in round 5, Raes Abdul Kader of Syria in round 6, GM Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia in round, GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran in round 8 and IM Samy Shaker of Egypt in the final round.

GM Mchedlishvili won second place honors in the fun tournament. Tied with 7 points apiece for third to fifth places were GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran , IM Diptayan Ghosh of India and GM Tigran L. Petrosyan of Armenia.

Finishing with 6.5 points each were GMs Amin Bassem of Egypt, Sergey Volkov of Russia, Viorel Iordachescu of Moldova, and French GMs Romain Edouard and Andrei Estratescu. 

Round 6 of the Dubai Open resumes Saturday morning. Visit the official site www.dubaichess.ae for live games, photo gallery, pgn flies, bulletins and video report.

Twenty Grandmasters, 9 International Masters, 1 Woman IM and six FIDE Masters were among the 91 players from 20 countries competing in the blitz tournament sponsored by Axiom.

In the blitz tournament, players have to use their intuition in the fast play of 3 minutes and 2 second increments per move.