 |
| Chief guest Dr Akash Vikram with prize winners of the "CCBW Chess for Freedom" chess tournament. |
Veteran player Sayeed Ahmad of the Lucknow Chess Centre won the CCBW Chess for freedom tournament with a perfect 7/7, two-points ahead of Anubhav Singh, Mohd Ismail Siddiqui (Prayagraj), and Udit Gupta (Varanasi). Hrothbertina Hilton won the Best Woman prize (4 points). She also took home the mixed doubles team first prize partnering with Ved (7.5 points). The highlight of the tournament was former state champion Sameer, the twenty-three-year-old Sameer partner with his super-senior octogenarian grandmother to win the mixed-doubles team second prize (6.5 points).
 |
| Tournament Champion Sayeed Ahmad |
 |
| Junior Champion Yaqoob Husain |
The best veterans (+60 age group) Sakiluddin (4.5 points), Rajinder Mahana (4 points), R P Gupta (3.5 points), Ajit Kumar Srivastava (3.5 points) and Sharad Kumar Pandey (2.5 points)
Nine-year-old Ismail along with father Rashid powered to top spot in the family section with (8 points), followed by father-son Ashish Kumar and son Ishaan with (6 points).
Ishu Srivastava fought well to win the Brave Beginner prize among all the sharks.
Teenager Yaqoob Husain (Prayagraj) played extremely attacking chess to win the junior section with (6.5 points). Ayush Goswami, with his strong middlegame, was runner-up with (5.5 points).
Author of Bhagavad Gita with chess, FIDE International Arbiter Naveen Karthikeyan, speaking at the tournament, discussed his book Zih-e-Lucknow, which traces Lucknow's history with chess and how the chess playing queen, Begum Hazrat Mahal, led India's first war of independence riding an elephant. "Chess is not about war, it is about creative freedom of the mind within a disciplined framework of rules and respect for everyone."
Dr Akash Vikram, professor at the Lucknow University, gave away the prizes.
Top results:
Under 10: 1. Shahab Murad Alam, 4.5 pt, 2-4. Amay Rajendra, Rajvansh Goel, Advik Singhal, 4 pts.
Under 13: 1-3. Ishaan Kumar, Arjun Garg, Saksham Srivastava 5 pt.
Under 16: 1. Om Pandey, 4.5 pt, 2-3. Shubh, Pratham Neogi, 3.5 pt.
Best Unrated: 1. Sanjeev Kumar, 4.5 pt, 2. Nikhar Saxena, 4 pt, 3. Ashish Kumar, 3 pt, 4. Kanak Kumar, 2.5 pt, 5. Aditya Gupta Johri, 2 pt.
More photos in Facebook album (including newspaper clippings): https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=ChessCCBW&set=a.918168180350462
News Links:
- https://nationalnewsvision.com/saeed-ahmed-wins-ccbw-chess-for-freedom-chess-tournament/
- https://theindianview.in/news_id/67179
- https://telescopetoday.in/archives/47848
- https://www.jubileepost.in/saeed-ahmed-wins-ccbw-chess-for-freedom-chess-tournament/
