De Joya wins Qatar Center Ranking Championship

The curtains came down on the three-day Qatar Center Ranking Championship which featured 28 male and female players using the classic chess method according to the Swiss system of 5 rounds/ half an hour + 30 seconds for each move.
Mohamed al-Madhahka, President of the Qatar Chess Federation (QCF), and Youssef Mohamed al-Mutawa, Secretary-General of QCF, were present during the championship.
The tournament witnessed strong competitions among the participants who sought best results to increase their rating.
Filipino player Florian de Joya won the title after taking first place while Indian player Syed Abdel Qader finished in second place.
The third place was grabbed by Egyptian Mahmoud Younis while the fourth place went to Alexander. In the prize for the best Qatari player participating in the tournament, Rayan Irfan clinched the competition. Khaled al-Jamaat won the best player in the under 12 years of age segment.
Youssef Mohamed al-Mutawa praised the levels of the ranking tournament. He said: “There was such excitement due to the desire of the players to increase their rating. I offer congratulations to the first-place winners.”
He added: “We are happy with the success of the tournament and the keenness of the players to take part in competitions, which were very strong. The Qatar Chess Federation’s plan is based on honing talents, focusing and caring for young players to prepare a chess generation aware of the upcoming various tournaments and competitions, and therefore their participation in such tournaments is important.”
He said: “We have great confidence that such tournaments will show us new faces of Qatari chess in the coming period to participate in various international forums.”