UAE chess prodigy Rouda Essa Alserkal, 15, dreams of becoming Grandmaster

Emirati teenager, competing in prestigious Norway Chess Open, hopes to inspire young chess players

Not many can claim to have gained international recognition and success at the age of 15. Rouda Essa Alserkal is one of them.

The chess prodigy grabbed headlines late last year as she became the first Emirati woman grandmaster following success at the Arab Women’s Championship in Sharjah.

Rouda’s next target is clinching the main Grandmaster title (a woman grandmaster has a lower ratings threshold).

The Grade 10 student at Al Mawaheb School, Abu Dhabi, thus entered the big leagues, having started the journey at age four.

Her rise in the world of chess has now taken her to the prestigious Norway Chess Open, which opened on Monday and runs until this weekend.

Rouda is representing the UAE in the tournament, competing alongside stars of the game such as Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and new world champion Gukesh.

All of this has happened rather quickly for the teenager. Rouda said it took her some time to come to terms with becoming a woman grandmaster.

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  Emirati chess prodigy Rouda Essa Alserkal became UAE’s first woman grandmaster at the age of 15. All photos: Rouda Essa Alserkal

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  Rouda Essa Alserkal began playing chess at the age of four

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  Rouda Essa Alserkal is the UAE’s first woman grandmaster and aims to clinch the main Grandmaster title soon

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  Rouda was introduced to chess at a young age

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  Kjell Madland, managing director of Norway Chess, invited Rouda Essa Alserkal to participate in the ongoing Norway Chess Open. Photo: Norway Chess

“It was in November. I was very shocked. It was still round eight and they told me if I win the round I will immediately get first place. And that I was going to become a woman grandmaster. It was very stressful. These things take a lot of time to sink in. But now, I feel very proud of myself,” Rouda told The National.

Rouda began playing with her father, Essa Alserkal, and other family members. She was soon enrolled in the Abu Dhabi Chess Club. By the time she was five, she began to show serious talent for chess.

Her list of wins includes the U20 UAE Championship, the 2017 World Cadets Championship, and many more.

“I started chess at four years old. We had a chess board at home. I used to play all the time with my mum, sisters, with my dad. When I joined Abu Dhabi Chess Club, a couple of months later, I won the Asian championship.

“I started taking chess more seriously when I won the world [cadets] championship in 2017. This is when I started to train more and have higher goals and ambition.”

Rouda is only the second grandmaster from UAE after Salem Abdulrahman. The Abu Dhabi resident is proud of what she has achieved, and hopes more women take up the game.

“The chess scene in the UAE is growing fast. There is a lot of support right now, especially for young players. For women, there is a lot of improvement but it could be better. Me becoming the first woman grandmaster in the UAE shows that anything is possible and I hope it opens more doors for young girls.”

Her work is not done yet, though. The requirements for the main Grandmaster title are a lot harder. As a woman grandmaster, Rouda currently has a little over 2,100 points in her rankings and needs to rise to 2,500 to gain the overall GM title. The task will only get tougher from here on as she will need to compete at bigger tournaments against better players to improve her standing.

“This means I have to work harder, keep up the grind. Inshallah, I will increase my ratings soon. It will be more difficult now,” she admitted.

While Rouda has her task cut out, managing high-stakes chess with the pressures of studies – which she admits has become a lot more difficult now – she is clear about what she wants to achieve on the chess board and in her life.

“My biggest goal is to achieve the Grandmaster title, not just the woman grandmaster title. Hopefully reach 2,500 ratings. And in future, I want to become a lawyer. And if everything works out, I will be a good lawyer hopefully.”

For now, her focus is on the Norway Open. The difficulty of the task facing her became clear right away in her opening match on Monday as Rouda struggled against Ukrainian GM Platon Galperin.

“It is sad to not start with a win,” Rouda said in a statement. “But it was also incredibly valuable. Playing at this level is intense, and I know I’ll grow from this.”