Al Ain Open tournament is going on concurrent with the World Youth Championship. The results can be found in chess-results.com. Before the next round of the Al Ain Open tournament the Top rated UAE player, the many times champion of his country, Salem AR Saleh briefly answered our questions.

-          How did you decide to participate in Al Ain Open?

-          I have had nothing scheduled for this period. The starting list of participants has many good and strong Grandmasters: Baadur jobava, Viorel Iordachescu, Arman Pashikyan and many others. Plus I like coming to Al Ain. So, everything just went together.

-          Whom do you consider to be a favorite of the tournament? How are you doing so far at the competition?

-          Jobava Baadur of Georgia. He is also top seed of the tournament. As for me, I have 3.5 out of 5 now. I started with the game which I lost. I lost to Abdulla Hayali Now I am playing better than in first days.

-          What is the prize fund of the tournament?

-          Yes, the total prize fund is about 35 000 AED I think. But there is a special prize for a local player as well (smiling).