Chess Club Black & White (CCBW): junaid ahmad

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Tuesday, October 27, 2026

Ravi Shanker wins Mahana Memorial Chess, Kuldeep Shankar second

Lucknow's Ravi Shanker, won the Mahana Chess Memorial hosted by Chess Club Black & White (CCBW) at Hotel Golden Apple with 6/7 points on tiebreak. Kuldeep Shankar, deputy director, Parliament, New Delhi, was second. Medical School student, would-be-doctor Siddhanth Chopra was the star of the tournament winning the Best Unrated first prize ahead of several rated professional players. Top senior citizens were Saeed Ahmad, Shakiluddin, KK Kharey, UB Singh, Mohd Irfan, Jamal Sir, Vipul Awasthi, RP Gupta and Ambuj Agarwal.

Saransh Shukla (4.5 points) was Best Under-16 player while Ayush Yadav won the Junior Unrated section with a fantastic 6.5 points. Navya Srivastava was Best Junior Girl and Kunwar Pranav Singh was Under-8 champion. Both scored 6 points. The club also felicitated top chess coaches of the city including Dr Junaid Ahmad (Lucknow Nagar Nigam), Saeed Ahmad (Lucknow Chess Centre), Pawan Batham (State Tax Department), Mayank Pandey (Defense), Deep Kumar Singh, Rama Shanker (DPS Gomti Nagar), and Ravi Shanker (DPS Eldeco). Chess Club Black & White hosts, every month, more than a hundred players of the Lucknow region and prides itself on providing the best playing conditions for their chess creativity. Their special focus is senior citizens. Journalist and 2002 State Women's Chess Champion Shilpa Mehra set up the club in 2015. The club is currently managed by Fide International Arbiter Naveen Karthikeyan and Fide Arbiter Aniket Mohan. Earlier, an international print chess magazine Black & White, published in Lucknow, from 2004 to 2012, had transitioned into a children's chess academy.

The memorial tournament on October 25 was organised at the Hotel Golden Apple in Mahanagar to celebrate the life of engineer Krishan Baldev Mahana and his beloved wife, Santosh. KB Mahana, of the Arya Samaj, gave Lucknow several iconic structures including the State Museum building and Indira bridge in the 1950s. KB Mahana's grandson, Parikshit Mahana, gave away the prizes and spoke about his grandfather's love of chess.

For more photos and print media coverage check Facebook Album

Online Media Coverage:

CCBW Chess Maharaja Series #1 Rapid Open Tournament is here: May 26, 17

Lucknow calling: One of Lucknow's biggest-ever chess tournaments, the CCBW Maharaja Series #1 is being hosted by Chess Club Black and White (CCBW) on May 16, 17 at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Multi-Purpose Indoor Hall at the KD Singh Babu Stadium. The chess tournament offers a total prize money of Rs three lakh (usd 3160 approximately) and is open to players with a Fide rating of 2100 and below and all unrated players. However, there is no rating bar for players (senior citizens) born 1966 and before.

The chess tournament prize structure includes a first prize of Rs 30,000/- and a second prize of Rs 20,000/-. Overall the tournament offers 160 trophies and 86 cash prizes.

Chess Club Black & White is known for being great chess tournaments to the city with an excellent level of organisation matching international standards.

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.