The first edition of the tournament was held in September 2011. It was established to provide top-level competition among the best Arab chess players. The tournament awards the Kirsan Ilyumzhinov Cup to the champion, in honour of FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The champion of the inaugural edition in 2011 was GM Salem Abdul Rahman Saleh from the UAE. GM Mohamad Al-Modiahki from Qatar won the second edition in 2013. The 2015 edition started on May 17 at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club with 16 players from 15 Arab countries. GM Bassem Amin (2633) of Egypt is the highest rated player followed by the UAE’s GM Salem Abdul Rahman Saleh (2614), Qatar’s GM Mohamed Al-Sayed (2501) and Algeria’s GM Haddouche Mohamed (2492). The closing ceremony will be on Wednesday, 3 June 2015, 7:30pm at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos will join sports leaders at the closing ceremony, including representatives from the UAE General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare and the Dubai Sports Council, and officials from different Arab Chess Federation member countries and UAE the chess community.
