Chess Club Black & White (CCBW)

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Abhigyan, Samarth star in CCBW Open Rapid Chess

Lucknow's renowned polyglot and educationalist Dr Manju Anand with the winners of the CCBW Rapid Chess Open

Teenager Lakshya Nigam (Oxford Model Convent) scored a perfect 7/7 ahead of Lucknow’s senior chess players to win the Rapid Open hosted by Chess Club Black & White (CCBW).

Dr Manju Anand, Executive Director of IFLAPS (Institute of Foreign Languages and Professional Studies) spoke on the deep Indo-Russian chess connection from the times of the Mahabharata. The players enjoyed the special session on learning Russian vocabulary particularly how to say “I love chess (ya lyublyu shakhmaty)”.

From left to right: Dr Manju Anand, Kavya Agrawal and Vishesh.

Dr Anand is Lucknow's renowned polyglot and educationalist with Doctorates in Russian and French teaching since 1985. She and her team gave away 64 trophies, 15 medals and 20 consolation prizes to more than 100 players from across Uttar Pradesh in the age group 4 to 85 years.

Playing hall at The Hotel Golden Apple, Mahanagar

The star of the tournament was ten-year-old Abhigyan Katiyar (Modern School, Aliganj) who beat Khare and 2nd seed Arif Ali to stand third with 5/7 points.

Main category 3rd prize winner Abhigyan Katiyar

Under 16 unrated Champion Samarth Gupta

Teenager Samarth Gupta (CMS Aliganj Cambridge) won the under 16 unrated section with 6.5/7 points. DPS Eldeco's Soumil Shaildendra Singh scored creditable 6/7 points to finish as runner up.

Senior Citizen winners (left to right): KK Khare, Sakiluddin (top), Sayeed Ahmad (bottom) and Mohd Irfan

Kapil Kumar Khare took the senior citizens’ trophy with 5.5 points. Sakiluddin, Sayeed Ahmad and Mohd Irfan were joint second with 5 points each.

Dr Anand with Under 8 category winners

The Under 8 section was won by Viyan Agarwal (CMS Gomti Nagar 1) with 4/4 points. Atharv Sarin Shukla (Modern School, Aliganj) and Avyaan Gupta (La Martiniere Boys) were joint second with 3/4 points.

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Vishal, Nikhar win CCBW Digital Detox Chess Rapid


Chief guest renowned ophthalmologist with the winners of the Digital Detox Chess Tournament hosted by Chess Club Black & White (CCBW) in Lucknow.

Rated section champion Vishal Bharti from Azamgarh

English teacher from Azamgarh, Vishal Bharti, won the Digital Detox Rapid chess tournament (5.5/7 points) hosted by Chess Club Black & White (CCBW). He beat Arif Ali, Pawan Batham, KK Khare and Aarav Garg who were all seeded above him. Bharti lost to Sayeed Ahmad who won the Senior Citizens section with 5 points.

Dr Vinit Sah addressing the gathering

Chief guest, renowned opthalmalogist, Dr Vinit Sah, spoke to all the players about the importance of seeking medical help at the earliest to save vision. All chess players have to practice online and train with computers for long hours.

Dr Vinit Sah interacting with children

Dr Sah explained the importance of simple eye rotation exercises, palming and meditation. He spoke about the 20:20:20 rule – Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. He said Chess kids must cut back on high screen usage and check the dry eye syndrome.

RK Gupta from Jhansi

Octogenarians RK Gupta from Jhansi and KK Khare from Lucknow — a huge inspiration for all players — were second and third in the senior citizens category respectively.

Unrated section champion Nikhar Saxena

The unrated section champion was Nikhar Saxena with 6/7 points.

Playing hall at Charans Plaza, Hazratganj

Harsh Upadhyay (Azamgarh) and Krishna Agarwal (Lucknow) were joint second in the unrated section with 5.5 points. Mohd Irfan was Best Senior Citizen in the unrated section with 4 points.

Junior Champion Shubh Srivastava

The under 16 section champion was Shubh Srivastava (6.5 points) and runner-up was Aakarshak Singh (5.5 points).

SR Global School chess team

The best school trophy went to SR Global School Lucknow.
Kunwar Prashant Singh, Pranav Singh and Abhyudaya Singh bagged the best family trophy

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Paris Freestyle Chess: Arjun only Indian to Qualify; Nepo, Carlsen Lead Field

Paris, 08 April 2025: The preliminary stage of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Paris concluded on Tuesday after eleven rounds of play. Twelve players competed for eight spots in the knockout stage. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Magnus Carlsen both finished with 8.5 points. It was Nepomniachtchi who topped the standings thanks to superior tiebreaks.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave followed in third place with 7 points, ahead of Arjun Erigaisi and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who both scored 6.5. Hikaru Nakamura qualified with 6 points after defending a difficult endgame against Abdusattorov under time pressure.

Only Indian to get through prelims as Gukesh, Praggnanandha and Vidit knocked out Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour II - Paris Photo by Freestyle Chess/Lennart Ootes

One of the most notable results of the day was the elimination of World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju. The 18-year-old went into the final day with just 1.5 points and was unable to fully recover. A mistake in the opening against Nepomniachtchi in round 11 left him in trouble as early as move seven.

Further down the table, Vincent Keymer secured qualification with a win over Fabiano Caruana in the final round. That result brought Keymer to 5.5 points and ensured his place in the top eight. Despite his loss, Caruana also advanced with 4.5 points, benefiting from Nakamura’s win over Richard Rapport in the last game.

Praggnanandhaa, Rapport, and Vidit Gujrathi were also eliminated. Vidit recorded a notable win over Caruana with a tactical mating idea, but previous results had left the newlywed with too much ground to make up. Rapport showed flashes of creativity—including a queen sacrifice for mate—but could not accumulate enough points to qualify.