KK Khare wins the CCBW Rapid Open, Himmika Best Woman Chess Player

 

Chief guest Harsh Wadhwani and Daizy Sonal Mishra with the prize winners of the "CCBW Open Rapid" chess tournament at The Charans Plaza.

Senior Lucknow player KK Khare took down two generations of chess players to win the CCBW Rapid Open. Arif Ali was second on tiebreak. Khare is a huge inspiration for the state chess community, having obtained his first FIDE International chess rating at the age of 62 in a sport where teen prodigies abound. Along with his trophy, Khare received a standing ovation from more than 100 UP players in the tournament hall. 

Tournament Champion KK Khare

Best Woman Category Winner Himmika Amarnani

Himmika Amarnani played her usual attacking chess to win the best women's ccategory prize. 

Tournament hall at Charans Plaza in Hazratganj.

Prashant Dwivedi from Kanpur excelled in the junior section. 

Nine-year-old Mohd Ismail Siddiqui of Prayagraj chose to play among the sharks in the open section and picked up the Best Family Team prize with his father, Rashid.

Hrothbertina Hilton and Ved took home the Best Mixed Doubles team prize.

Abhivadan Shukla fought well to win the Brave Beginner Prize.

Corporate leader Harsh Wadwani and fashion influencer Daizy Sonal Mishra gave away the prizes.

The tournament was organised to create awareness among youngsters about learning from their elders on the occasion of United Nations World Senior Citizens Day.

Other top results:
Under 10: 1-2. Abhigyan Katiyar, Abhiraj, 5 pt each, 3. Viyan Agarwal, 4.5 pt.
Under 13: 1-3. Adyansh Singh, Dibbayan Chakraborty, and Advik Tripathi, 5.5 pt each.
Under 16: 1. Rachi Yadav, 5.5 pt, 2. Ujjwal Raj Srivastava, 5 pt, 3. Kushagra Pandey, 4.5 pt.
Senior Citizen: 1. Kamlesh Kumar Kesharwani, 4 pt, 2-4 Kranti Kumar Gupta (Bareilly), Sharad Kumar Pandey, R P Gupta, 3 pt each.
Under-16 Rated: 1. Chinmay Vajpayee, 5pt, 2-3. Krishna Tejas T, Daksh Surana, 4 pt each.

More photos in Facebook album (including newspaper clippings): https://www.facebook.com/share/p/afhdS3odQRwudgU4/

Other News Links:

- https://theindianview.in/news_id/68271

- https://nationalnewsvision.com/kk-khare-is-champion-in-ccbw-rapid-open-himmika-is-the-best-female-player/

- https://telescopetoday.in/archives/48280

- https://www.jubileepost.in/kk-khare-is-champion-in-ccbw-rapid-open-himmika-is-the-best-female-player/

- https://www.morningpoint.in/kk-khare-is-the-champion-in-ccbw-rapid-open-himmika-is-the-best-female-player/

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CCBW felicitates Lucknow Chess Icons

The Chess Club Black & White (CCBW) felicitated chess icons of Lucknow on January 7, 2024. If not for the personal contribution of these people, Lucknow's chess would have been a desert for the last twenty years and city's children would not have got the opportunities they did. We celebrate these chess icons who have kept our beautiful game alive in the city. 

   

The chess icons of Lucknow who have kept alive the game in the city for the last twenty years with chief guest Agnishikha Verma at a special felicitation ceremony on the sidelines of the CCBW Open Chess Tournament.

International player, trainer & organiser: Devendra Bajpai: One of Lucknow's finest senior chess players with deep opening knowledge and a talented musician. He has both an amazing voice and god-gifted ability to play any instrument. He was long associated with Lucknow's traditional annual international open tournament for over fifteen years, the Piloo Modi Chess up to 2012. Bajpai and Hemant Sharma, along with players in Delhi, were the key players to successfully contest a case banning players and restriction upon organising of tournaments thereby benefiting the entire chess community of India.

State champion & trainer Dr Junaid Ahmad: Sports officer at the Lucknow Municipal Corporation, managing editor of India's only chess features magazine printed from 2004 to 2012 is now honorary director of children's club Chess Club Black & White. He has trained several youngsters and organises special tournaments for senior citizens and women. He has been associated with the research work for International Arbiter Naveen Karthikeyan's book "18x64: Chess Class with Bhagavad Gita shlokas*. 

International Arbiter Hemant Sharma: Not just a trainer but Lucknow's first and only International Arbiter. He has brought many chess tournaments to the state capital and has been associated with the Piloo Modi Open Chess Tournament.

Player, trainer Saeed Ahmad: retired from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has brought a professionalism to Lucknow chess with both his playing and training methods. He has set high standards for himself and his online and offline students at his Lucknow Chess Centre. 

Pawan Batham: has been coaching youngsters and playing for several years along with his employment with the Sales Tax Department. He has been playing partner for several kids playing at national level. 

Player, trainer Arif Ali: is one of the strongest senior players in the State Capital and has worked with several rated children in the city. 

Tournament organiser Devendra Nanda: has long organised open tournaments with his own funding to end the drought of tournaments in Lucknow. 

Jalaluddin: Lucknow's finest and National Awardee bone carver keeping alive the hundreds-of-years-old art of bone carving and making some of the finest high-end traditional theme sets in exquisite designs. 

Ravi Shankar: Youth coach with the Delhi Public School in Lucknow leads one of the strongest school teams in the state of Uttar Pradesh. 

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FM Arvinder Preet Singh Wins Two-Day MCD Chess Open in Lucknow

Lucknow: Fide Master Arvinder Preet Singh from Ludhiana won the two-day My Chess Dreams (MCD) Rapid Open Chess today. Singh, the 2018 World Amateur Champion, dropped a point only to Anchal Rastogi of Lucknow. Rastogi steered into an endgame two pawns up but, despite the win, was third on tiebreak. Vivek Kumar Shukla from Kanpur beat all other top players to be second.

Among the veterans, KK Khare, Lucknow was first half a point ahead of Qamar Naim, Bahraich and Mohd Aslam, Lucknow.

Among the kids, seven-year-old Mohd Ismail Siddiqui from Allahabad performed way above his level to be first in under-9. The Best Woman prize went to Aiman Akhtar of Lucknow a point ahead of Purnima Saxena and Jusfica Lilium Lobo. Chess Club Black & White CCBW-Lucknow) hosted the all-India prize money tournament.

 

Top standings

1st-4th Arvinder Preet Singh, Vivek Kumar Shukla, Anchal Rastogi, Saeed Ahmad 7.5 pts each;
5th-6th Arif Ali, Pawan Batham 6.5 pts;
7th-12th Ravi Shanker, Shadab Khan, Chandra Prakash, Arun Pratap Singh, Prashant Pandey, Krishna Tejas T 6 pts;
13th-14th Ashfaq Ahmad, Shalabh Agarwal 5.5 pts

U9 Age-group

1st Mohd Ismail Siddiqui, Allahabad 5 pts; 2nd Yuvaan Grover, Lucknow 3 pts; 3rd-4th Akshat Srivastava, Ahaan Khanna Das, Lucknow 2.5 pts

U13 Age-group

1st-2nd Lakshya Nigam, Shubh Srivastava Lucknow, 5 pts each; 3rd Gauransh Jaiswal, Lucknow 4.5 pts

U15 Age-group

1st Arnav Tripathi, Lucknow 4 pts, 2nd Pradyumn Kumar Pandey, Lucknow 3 pts, 3rd Ayush Mishra, Lucknow 2 pt.

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Lucknow's Arif Ali wins CCBW Chess Open, Jusfica top Woman Player

Lucknow: Arif Ali won the 2nd CCBW Open Chess here today with a consistent performance in a field of more than 100 top chess players from Varanasi, Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Allahabad and Lucknow.

Vikash Nishad was second with a draw against Ali in an Alekhine-game converting into a French pawn structure. Eleven-year-old Sanyam Srivastava was the kid hero holding rated second seed Pawan Batham to a draw and making it to the main prize list.

Jusfica Lilium Lobo from Lucknow was Best Woman and Dinesh Sinha from Kanpur won the Veteran +60 Section. Among the juniors, u-13 section, Prisha Garg from Lucknow was Best Girl and Arnav Tripathi was Best Boy. Aaryav Yogesh was top scorer in the u-10 category. 

Chess Club Black & White hosted the tournament with free lunch and international-standard playing conditions at a city hotel. Mrs Agni Shikha Verma, Chairperson of the Agni Shikha Karn Educational Charitable Trust and Principal of AWADH ITI, gave away the prizes. 

*Top Prize Winners*

Open 1st-15th: Arif Ali, Vikash Nishad 6.5, Gufran 6, Pawan Batham 5.5, Anchal Rastogi, Sayeed Ahmad, Shashi Prakash, Vishal Bharti, Rajendra Kumar, Mayank Pandey, Vimal Bhatia,  KK Kulhary, Ayush Saxena, Akash Srivastava, Udit Gupta 5.

Women 1st-3rd: Jusfica Lilium Lobo, Aiman Akhtar, Shweta Bharti

Veterans +60 1st-3rd Dinesh Sinha, KK Khare, RK Gupta 5

Under-9 1st-2nd Aaryav Yogesh, Mahir Agarwal 

Rating Categories 1st-2nd

Unrated - 1099: Shubh Srivastava, Suneel Kumar

1100-1299: Abhishek Kumar Mishra, Sanyam Srivastava 

1300-1499: Vinayak Singh Yadav, Shani Kumar Soni

1500-1699: Ravishanker, Sunny Mathew

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Harshit 1st in u1800 at Belgrade Chess Open, gains 218 fide rating points

Lucknow, July 30: Heartiest Congratulations to CCBW kid Harshit Amarnani, Lucknow, for winning first prize in the u1800 category (Euro 100) and gaining a fantastic 218 fide rating points in Belgrade, Serbia today! He just concluded the Belgrade Open - Vozhdovac Trophy 2022 with a score of 6/9. Harshit definitely has his parents, Prashant and Suvidha, to thank. Sacrificing their own time and work to help him pursue his chess dreams. His sister, Himmika, a tennis player, always the naughty support. Himmika too is a chess player in her own right! 

He has trained with UP Champion Dr Junaid Ahmad, district champion Arif Ali at Chess Club Black & White, Lucknow (CCBW) and WIM Mrunalini Kunte at the Kunte Chess Academy, Pune.

His score includes a draw with Fide Master Nikolic Boban, Women's International Master Rucha Pujari, and International Master Andrijevic Milan. It also includes a win over Fide Master Maric Dragan.

Harshit's rating goes to 1788 in the new FIDE rating list making him the top-rated junior in Uttar Pradesh. He is already in the top-1000 rated juniors in Asia.

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