Green Earth Chess: Bharti wins title, Ujjwal Jr. champion, Hrothbertina Best Woman

English teacher from Azamgarh, Vishal Bharti, displayed fine endgame technique to win the Green Earth Chess Tournament at Charans Plaza with 6.5/7 points. Ujjwal Raj Srivastava starred in the Junior Section scoring 6/7 points.

Chess Club Black & White (CCBW) organised the tournament to create awareness about the need to protect our environment under the United Nations #GenerationRestoration campaign. All players were also gifted a Holy Basil plant.

Youngsters who impressed with their games but included Udit Gupta, Nikhar Saxena and Shivangi.

A Class VIII student, Ujjwal has Espina Bífida, a spinal problem, that has paralysed him for life. It was only in 2012 that a surgery at AIIMS Delhi helped him move his hands and fingers. His parents carry him to the stage to receive the prize. He started learning chess from his school games teacher, Amit Srivastava. "Ujjwal has great passion for chess and works hard by himself. If he can do this, then any kid can," say his parents Rajneesh and Anamika.

Bharti says, "I hail from the culturally rich town of Azamgarh. As a dedicated teacher and trainer of English, I have a passion for nurturing minds and fostering a love for the English language. Chess is not just a hobby for me; it's a profound passion that I pursue with great dedication. Although, Azamgarh is my home, Lucknow holds a special place in my heart. Many of my family members reside here, and I've been visiting the city regularly since 2013. I embrace every opportunity to immerse myself in the strategic world of chess, constantly seeking to refine my skills and enjoy the intellectual challenge it offers."

Chinmay Vajpayee was tournament runner-up with 5 points. U16 section runner-up was Tanish Kumar with 5.5 points. Veterans KK Khare, Sayeed Ahmad (4 points each) took the top honours in the Veterans +60 section followed by Rajinder Mahana and Mohd Irfan in joint third place with 3 points each. Kamlesh Kumar Kesharwani scored 2.5 in the section.

Hrothbertina Hilton won the women's section followed by Rekha Gaur and Vinky Dixit. The top-3 Best Unrated players were Neeraj Chaurasiya (4.5 points), Aarav Garg and Sanjeev Kumar, 4 points each.

The Best Family prize (introduced by CCBW) went to the Mishra Family from Lakhimpur which included CP Mishra and his kids Yash and Yashasvi. They were followed by Ashish Kumar and his sons Ishit and Ishaan. Chess Club Black & White promotes chess as a family game to help children stay away from screens and instead acquire life skills from chess. As a heat wave sweeps North India, it is the best time to stay indoors and play chess say club members. 

(Above) the Kumar family from Lucknow and the Mishra family from Lucknow. 

Top Results
1. Vishal Bharti (Azamgarh) 6.5 points, 2. Chinmay Vajpayee 5.5 points 3-6. Saurabh Yadav, Sanjay Kumar Bajpai, CP Mishra (Lakhimpur), Prem Singh Mehta 5 points

Junior Section Results

U10 1st Suyash Shukla (Lakhimpur) 5.5 points 2nd Yash Prakash Mishra (Lakhimpur) 5 points 3rd Vardhan Gupta (Lakhimpur) 4.5 points.

U13 1-3rd Ayush Goswami, Ishaan Kumar, Saksham Srivastava 5 points each

U16 Ariz Hussain 5 points, Shaurya Singh Chauhan 4 points.

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Aarav Garg, Sayeed Ahmad tie for First at Lions vs Cubs Chess Tournament

Lucknow: Student and teacher, fourteen-year-old Aarav Garg, and veteran Lucknow player, Saeed Ahmad, of Lucknow Chess Centre displayed a fantastic performance scoring 6.5/7 points to tie for first at the Lions vs Cubs Chess at a Hotel Golden Apple, Mahanagar.

Three people tied for second with 5 points each including Shatrughan Rawat, Shadab Khan (Lakhimpur), and top woman player Vartika R. Verma. Vartika has proved to be Lucknow's strongest woman player consistently making it to the top-10 in the Open category for the last one year. Parth Pande and Nikhar Saxena, both nineteen, excelled in tactical play.

Caption: Chief Guest GMJH Global MD Javed Khan with prize winners of the Lions vs Cubs Chess at a Hotel Golden Apple in Lucknow.

In the under-16 category, ten-year-old Ameya Rajendra and 14-year-old Ujjwal Raj Srivastava impressed with 5.5 points each.

"This was a special-format tournament Lions vs Cubs developed by Chess Club Black & White (CCBW) to help unrated youngsters learn from rated senior citizens," said Fide International Arbiter and chess author Naveen Karthikeyan. He said, "These senior citizens became chess experts before the Internet era. Today, an app on your cellphone plays stronger than the world champion. It's easy to practice. How did our senior citizens play so well? It's pure human ability. We must treasure our senior citizens."

CCBW honorary director, UP champion, Dr Junaid Ahmad said, "We want to create chess opportunities for all levels of players. Some players felt, as an organiser, we would lose out on entry fee but that's never been our purpose. We are a charitable society. The more chess happens and the more the marginalised players get opportunities, we will benefit as a community. The All-India Chess Federation too has many such formats. We will continue with our all-women and all-senior citizen formats also."

Aarav Garg 1st in the Lions vs Cubs Chess.

 

Top results

(Lucknow unless mentioned)
1-2. Aarav Garg, Sayeed Ahmad 6.5 pts 3-4. Shatrughan Rawat, Shadab Khan (Lakhimpur) 5 pts. 5. Neeraj Chaurasiya 4.5 pts, 6-10. Sanjeev Mishra (Kanpur), Ratnesh Shanker Verma, Nikhar Saxena, Zafar Mahboob, Ayush Singh 4 pts.

Senior Citizens
1-2. Sharad Kumar Sharma, Rajendra Mahana 4.5 pts 3-4. RK Gupta (Jhansi), Kamlesh Kumar Kesharwani, 4 pts 5. Sakiluddin 3 pts

Women
1. Vartika R Verma 5 pts,
2. Vinky Dixit 2 pts

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