Jubilee Post News & Views
Lucknow. Vartika R Verma scored a perfect 7/7 to win the 2nd CCBW Chess Princess 2024 title at a city hotel here today in the female-players-only tournament. Deepanjali Mehrotra lost a Rook-Bishop endgame to Vartika but won all other games to stand second with six points. Daksha Singh scored a creditable 4 points to stand third on tiebreak ahead of Pooja Kashyap and Anupama Khare.
Also released on the occasion was Fide International Arbiter Naveen Karthikeyan’s second chess novella “2. Zih-e-Lucknow#”. The book is a unique research work — part history, part fiction — that encapsulates Lucknow’s chess legacy from the 19th century on. As the young author says, “It’s a book for lovers of chess, lovers of Lucknow and lovers.”
Special guests on the occasion were Uzma Siddiqui-Kidwai and Rocio Perez. Ms Kidwai is principal, Karamat Girls, and has twice received the UP Government District Teacher Award in 2021 and 2023. Educationist Ms Perez, Mexico City, is a Spanish professor promoting Indo-Mexican cultural ties.
Chess Club Black & White honorary director, UP State champion, 2002, Dr Junaid Ahmad said, “As a club we want to create awareness that chess is a life skill sport and children should not be pushed into its professional aspect unless they are truly ready. Also, this all-women tournament was our smallest of efforts to help create a safe and secure environment for more girls to play a close-proximity and emotionally tough sport like chess.”
- Top results
- 1st Vartika R Verma 7 points, 2nd. Deepanjali Mehrotra 6 pts, 3-5th Daksha Singh, Pooja
- Kashyap, Anupama Khare, 4, Pooja Mehrotra, 2.
- U10 1st Saanica Sinha, 3.5, 2nd Advika Tiwari, 2 pts (also youngest participant), Aditri S.
- Baiswar, 1 pt.
- U13 1st Aditi Singh 4 pts, Shivangi Sharma 3.5 pt.
- U15 1st Anushka Sen 3 pts.
- Senior Citizen 1st S. Mahana 4 pts, Indrani Basu 3 pts.
