Dubai Chess & Culture Club

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Dubai Chess and Culture Club was established in 1979 as a part of the UAE Chess Federation and was officially recognized as an independent entity in 1981, and moved to its permanent headquarters in Al Mamzar in 1999.

In just five years since it was established, the club was already able to host the sport’s premier global team competition, the World Chess Olympiad in 1986. Following the chess Olympics, the club continued to progress steadily as a force to reckon within the regional and global chess scene, hosting and organizing various international competitions such as the World Rapid & Blitz Championship, the Asian Cities Championships, various Arab individual and team championships, Dubai Open Chess Tournament, Dubai Juniors Chess Championship, Credit Swiss Chess Masters Tournament and Fide Active Chess Grand Prix among others.

With a strong focus on proper training and development, the club has guided and nurtured various players who have emerged champions in local and international competitions. Its players serve as the “backbone” of the UAE National Team, achieving outstanding successes and recognition both at the local and international levels. The club has produced some of the UAE’s top chess players, including Taleb Mousa, the first Emirati Grand Master, and Saeed Ahmed Saeed, the UAE’s first world champion in chess and first International Master, whose exploits in the early 1980s earned him the moniker the “Arab computer”.

Image Credit: Dubai Chess & Culture Club