Salem Saleh is a Chess Grandmaster from The United Arab Emirates with elo ratings above 2600 in FIDE, making him one of the best Emirati chess players in the world.
Full Name: Salem Abdulrahman Mohamed Saleh
Title: Grandmaster (2009)
International Master (2008)
Place of birth: Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Born: January 4, 1993
Federation: United Arab Emirates
Ratings
World ranking: 62
Rapid: 2644
Blitz: 2628
Classical: 2677
Peak rating: 2690 (0ctober 2021)
Profiles
Most Frequently Played Openings
With The White Pieces
- Nimzo Indian
- Queen’s Gambit Declined
- Slav
With The Black Pieces
- Sicilian Defense
- Sicilian Najdorf
- King’s Indian
Biography
Salem Saleh is an Emirati chess player born on January 4, 1993, in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Saleh was awarded the title of Grandmaster in 2009 and the FIDE Master title.
As of October 2022, his FIDE rating was 2677, while his Peak rating was 2690 as of October 2021. Saleh has won two Arab Individual Blitz Chess Tournaments and four national Emirati chess tournaments. He has also won three international Arab chess tournaments.
Saleh won the Asian Chess and Asian Blitz Tournaments in 2015. Saleh is now ranked 11th among all chessboard gamers from Asia.
The Beginning
Saleh, a Sharjah native, won three medals at the Asian Youth Chess Championships for the under-14 age division in 2007, the U16 age division in 2008, and the U18 age division in 2009. The NIDO Arab U10 tournament, held on July 08, 2002, in Abu Dhabi, UAE, attracted 10 players, and Salem Saleh placed first on a tiebreak with a score of 8.0 points.
Saleh played at the Wch U10 tournament on October 2003 in Greece and shared 7.0 points with IM Sebastian Iermito, IM Raymond Song, Haik Tamazian, Samvel Ter Sahakian, Wang Chen, GM Samvel Ter Sahakyan, and Haik Tamazyan.
Salem placed 9th on a tiebreak. In 2008, 2011, and 2012, Saleh won the Emirati Chess Tournament. In 2008, 2014, and 2018, he won the Arab Chess Championship. 2017 and 2018 saw Salem Saleh win the Arab Individual Blitz Chess Championship.
In 2013, Saleh competitively played in the 4th Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games 2013 Men Classical and finished with a performance rating of 2758, thus helping him split the second spot with GM Ding Liren with 5 points. Saleh won the Asian Chess Championship and the Asian Blitz Chess Championship in Al Ain in August 2015.
In 2017, Saleh tied for the top spot with Wang Hao, B. Adhiban, Martyn Kravtsiv, Yuriy Kryvoruchko, and S. P. Sethuraman in the first Sharjah Masters international tournament. Saleh participated in 2011, 2013, and 2015 FIDE World Cups.
From 2008 to 2016, Saleh competed on the top board for the UAE national team in every Chess Olympiad. In 2016, Saleh also took part in the Asian Nations Cup.
Notable Achievements
Saleh won the 2020 Biel MTO edition in August 2021 with a rating achievement of 2790 and 7.0 points out of 9 games.
Saleh won the 27th Sharjah International Rapid in April 2022 with 8.0 points out of 9 games.
Notable Games
A R Saleh Salem vs Kiril Georgiev – World Blitz Championship, Round 7 – Dubai, UAE – June 19, 2014
A R Saleh Salem vs Jan Smeets – Biel (Masters), Round 5 – Biel, Switzerland – June 26, 2013
A R Saleh Salem vs Siva Mahadevan – Abu Dhabi Masters, Round 1 – Abu Dhabi, UAE – August 21, 2016
If you’re interested in seeing more, there’s a list of Salem’s best chess games you can go through move-by-move.
Did you enjoy reading about Salem Saleh? If you did, you might also be interested in reading about other players such as Hikaru Nakamura, Emanuel Lasker, and Paul Morphy.