Bangladesh National Women's Chess Championship Begins

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2014

Hello everyone,

The Bangladesh Women's National Chess Championship 2014 has begun. The 34th edition of the event is named in memory of Sultana Kamal - an accomplished athlete of Bangladesh. 

A total of 12 players, including two WIMs, four WFMs and six FIDE rated chess players are participating in the event. The national women's chess team of Bangladesh is selected from the event for the World Chess Olympiad, Asian Continental Championship for women, Women Zonal and other international women's chess events. 

The participants include reigning champion WFM Sultana Shirin Sharmin, former champion WIM Shamima Akter Liza, 18-time national women's champion, Bangladesh's iconic, WIM Rani Hamid and former women's champion WFM Tanima Parveen. These players were directly seeded to the national championship. the other eight players are Sharmin Samiha Shimmi, WFM Khan Nazrana, Chowdhury Mahmuda Hoque Moly, Jahan Dilara Nupur, Jahanara Haque, WFM Sultana Zakia, Rahman Hamid and Kiswara Shajrin Evena. The event is being held in Round-Robin League. The games and details results are available at the www.chess-results.com.

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Bangladesh Chess: GM Abdullah Al-Rakib wins National Title on Return to Chess

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

Bangladeshi Grandmaster Abdullah Al-Rakib has won the Berger Paints 39th National ‘A’ Chess Championship without a single loss. Since his first national title in 2007, Rakib took part in only one national chess championship that also in 2008. Representing Duronto Rajshahi Rakib defeated Fide Master Kh. Aminul Islam of Bangladesh Ansar in the ultimate round at the Bangladesh Olympic Association media centre to secure his second national title. 

Rakib played with white pieces against English Opening of Amin and won the game after 27 moves. He finished with 11 points from 13 rounds. Rakib, who drew with three GMs of the country - Zia, Niaz and Rajib, admitted that his opponents failed to perform up to their level that won him the title.

“The preparation was not good and I have not played my natural attacking game as I used to. It’s not like I played well and won, but the truth is that my opponents were not up to their mark which made my task easier,” said Rakib.

He achieved his third and last GM norm back in 2007 and following a poor display in the Indian chess tournament last year, Rakib said he was not prepared to participate in the national chess tournament now. “This is the first time I have played in the national chess since 2008. I couldn’t play in the last tournaments as I was not prepared after taking part in a chess tournament in India.”

While asked about the future of chess in Bangladesh, Rakib criticised the system for no sponsor, fund and enough facilities. “The standard of the game would have been better if Rifat had played. Even some Fide Masters like Shumon, Fahad Rahman got crashed out from the qualifiers. My rating is 2510/11 and it’s sad to say that this is the rating of the top ranked chess player of the country. That signifies the whole scenario of the game,” he said before adding that he will take part in two international tournaments in India in November.

Meanwhile, 12-time national chess champion GM Ziaur Rahman became the runner-up with 10.5 points after getting walk-over from FM Nasir Ahmed yesterday. IM Minhazuddin Ahmed Sagar finished third with 10 points. GM Enamul Hossain Razib was fourth with 9 points.

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GM Ziaur Rahman wins Bangladesh National Chess Championship for 12th time

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hello everyone,

Some chess news from Bangladesh where Grandmaster Ziaur Rahman has won the Bangladesh National Chess Championship for the - hold your breath - 12th time! It was the Walton 37th National Chess Championship that concluded in Dhaka recently. He beat Golam Mostofa in the final round to take the title which was his third in four years. For the record books, Grandmaster Reefat Bin Sattar has won the Bangladesh national chess championship six times and the country's first Grandmaster Niaz Murshed has won the title four times.

Zia remained unbeaten throughout the championship this year and finished with 11.5 points beating Niaz Murshed, who also stayed unbeaten in the tournament by a point. Niaz defeated Mohammad Javed in the final round yesterday to be the second.

You can read the full story here.

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Also see her personal blog at
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