14 year old Mona Khaled wins Arab Women's Championship
Thursday, 25 December 2008 19:11

Khaleej Times Online >> News >> SPORTSMona Clinches Arab Women Championship TitleBy a Correspondent25 December 2008SHARJAH - Mona Khaled, a 14 year old school girl from Egypt, clinched the Arab Women Championship chess title with a round to spare.Mona defeated WIM Fuad Natalie of Jordan and she is already assured of the championship title. Mona scored 7.5 points with seven wins and a draw from eight games. Mona’s nearest rival WFM Latreche Sabrina of Algeria scored six points. Sabrina won against Hamza Amira of Algeria.The victory gave her awesome rating performance and an international master norm in the open category.Her mother added: “she has three open International Master norms and once she reaches the ELO rating she can claim the title. She needs sponsors to take her to the next level and obtain a grandmaster coach”.Mona said: 'I am training under Hassan Khaled who discovered me in a local club chess event and has been my mentor. I am also working with Amir Fateh for the past four months.”IM Salem A.R. Saleh of UAE joined the top table and shared the lead with GM Al-Modiahki Mohamad of Qatar with six points after the eighth and penultimate round of Arab Chess Championship held at Al Bustan Hotel, Sharjah.Salem inched closer to his grandmaster title with a crucial win against IM Al Qudaimi Basheer of Yemen in a Sicilian defense.Click here for the full article.