Shakil Became IM, Liza WIM and Zia Moves For World Chess Championship

Great news! My playing partner and gentle younger brother-like chess friend Abu Sufian Shakil has become International Master. Liza also became Women International Master, second only after WIM Rani Hamid. Moreover, Ziaur Rahman winning the 3.2 Zonal tournament will play the next cycle for World Chess Championship representing this zone.

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=179668

Shamima Akhter Liza became country's second Women International Master (WIM) after Rani Hamid, who won it in 1985, as she earned seven points from nine games in Asian Chess Zone 3.2 Championship in Sri Lanka yesterday.

Liza and Ranasinghe of Sri Lanka earned equal seven points but the latter finished top by virue of a tie breaker. Liza had earned her first WIM norm last year during Six Seasons Women's International Rating Chess in Cox's Bazar.

Apart from Liza, FIDE master Abu Sufian Shakil also earned his third and final norm of International Master from the championship as Shakil secured 6.5 points from nine matches to finish third in the men's section where GM Ziaur Rahman finished top to qualify for the World Chess Championship.

Shakil had earned his first IM norm back in 2009 from the National Chess Championship and then secured the second one from a competition in Indian state Orissa last year, according to information provided by Bangladesh Chess Federation.

http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/date/2011-03-30/news/142789

বাংলাদেশের দাবায় একটা ভালো দিন গেল পরশু। এশিয়ান জোনাল চ্যাম্পিয়নশিপের ৩.২ অঞ্চলের খেলায় চ্যাম্পিয়ন হয়ে আগেই বিশ্বকাপ দাবায় খেলার সুযোগ মিলেছে গ্র্যান্ডমাস্টার জিয়াউর রহমান ও শামীমা আক্তারের (লিজা)। কাল পাওয়া গেল আরও একটি সুসংবাদ।
এশিয়ান জোনাল চ্যাম্পিয়নশিপে তৃতীয় হওয়া আবু সুফিয়ান (শাকিল) পেলেন আন্তর্জাতিক মাস্টারের খেতাব। এর আগে দুটো নর্ম পূরণ করা আবু সুফিয়ানের তৃতীয় নর্ম পূরণ হয়েছে শ্রীলঙ্কায়। সুফিয়ানের সঙ্গে শামীমা আক্তার হয়েছেন মহিলা আন্তর্জাতিক মাস্টার। রানী হামিদের পর দ্বিতীয় মহিলা দাবাড়ু হিসেবে এমন অর্জন শামীমার।

Ziaur Rahman Only half point behind Champion Areshchenko in 9th Parsvnath International Chess Tournament

Areshchenko clinches title in a tie-break with 9 points while GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh scores 8.5 points.

Top seed Ukrainian Grandmaster Alexnader Areshchenko ensured a thrilling end to the 8th Parsvnath International Chess Tournament by setting for a draw with fellow Ukrainian Grandmaster Yuriy Kuzubov in the eleventh and final round at Ludlow Castle Sports Complex here on Sunday. Areshchenko tied for the top spot along with national champion Parimarjan Negi, Yuriy Kuzubov, Austrian Grandmaster Ragger Markus and highly regarded Chinese Grandmaster Ni Hua with 9 points each but better tie break score helped Areshchenko to take the Winners trophy and pocketed a shared cash prize of 1.51 lakh rupees while Negi finished second and Kuzubov satisfied with third spot finish. Markus and Ni Hua finished fourth and fifth respectively.

In the final round encounters Negi overcame CRG Krishna while Markus defeated Grandmaster Hanens Stefansson of Iceland and Ni Hua beat former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta to catch up with Areshchenko for the pole position.

Shri. V P Agarwal, Chairman Airport Authority of India; Shri Suneet Sachar, Vice President Parsvnath Developers; Shri Dhiraj Raghuvanshi, President Uttaranchal Chess Association give away the prizes in presence of Shri. Bharat Singh, President Delhi Chess Association.

Final Standings :-

(1) GM Alexander Areshchenko of Ukraine with 9 points
(2) GM Parimarjan Negi of India with 9 points
(3) GM Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine with 9 points
(4) GM Markus Ragger of Austria with 9 points
(5) GM Ni Hua of China with 9 points
(6) GM Lenic Luka of Slovenia with 8.5 points
(7) GM Mikhailo Oleksienko of Ukriane with 8.5 points
(8) GM Henrik Danielsen of Iceland with 8.5 points
(9) GM Postny Evgeny of Israel with 8.5 points
(10) IM Nabaty Tamir of Israel with 8.5 points
.....
.....
.... GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh with 8.5 points

Important Results Round-11 (Indians otherwise specified):- GM Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine (9) drew with GM Alexander Areshchenko of Ukraine (9); GM Abhijeet Gupta (8) lost to GM Ni Hua of China (9); GM Hannes Stefansson of Iceland (8) lost to GM Ragger Markus of Austria (9); GM Mikhailo Oleksienko of Ukraine (8.5) drew with GM Lenic Luka of Slovenia (8.5); Krishna C R G (8) lost to GM Parimarjan Negi (9); GM Henrik Danielsen of Iceland (8.5) drew with GM Evgeny Postny of Israel (8.5); GM Konstantin Chernyshov of Russia (8) drew with IM Karthikeyan P (8); IM Nabaty Tamir of Israel (8.5) beat Arun Karthik R (7.5); Surendran N (7.5) lost to GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh (8.5); Zeng Chongsheng of China (8.5) beat GM Kidambi S (7.5); GM Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan (7.5) drew with IM Shyam Nikil (8)

Source: http://blog.delhichess.com/2011/01/areshchenko-clinches-title-in-tie-break.html

Bangladeshi GM Ziaur Rahman To Boost Chess In Malaysia

After the recent post by Susan Polgar on Niaz Bhai's chess initiative in Bangladesh, today I saw Polgar blogging on Zia's residency in Malaysia to boost chess development there. Wonderful that chess players in Bangladesh are part of news more frequently now alhtough we are far from the mainstream sports news like cricket and football.

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2010/02/resident-gm-in-malaysia.html

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2010/2/26/lifeliving/5738116&sec=lifeliving

GM Zia and Enamul Amongst Top Scorers in Kilkata Open

After fifth round, GM Ziaur Rahman and Enamul Hossain of Bangladesh are jointly in second position with other top GMs like Nigel Short in the Kolkata Open with 4 points each. GM Sandipan is solely leading with 4.5 points.

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2009/09/sandipan-leads-kolkata-open.html

It's so great to see our GMs in the front line of the scorers!

Dreev Wins 5th Parsvanth Chess Tournament In New Delhi

GM Alexey Dreev of Russia wins 5th Parsvanth International Chess Tournament that took place in New Delhi, India between 14th January to 22nd January 2007. There were 13 GMS from India, Bangladesh, Russia, Egypt, Ukrain, Uzbekisthan among the 345 participants. The 18-year-old Hyderabad teenager Gogineni Rohit completed his third and final International Master-norm and maiden Grandmaster norm to secure a runners up position. Dreev, who has an ELO rating of 2658, defeated B Adhiban in the 10th and final round to finish a clear winner with 8.5 out of a possible 10 points to bag the purse of Rs two lakh in the Swiss-league tournament played at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. Half a point behind Dreev were seven players (jointly 2nd to 8th) -- Rohit, GM Ahmed Adly of Egypt, GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh, four-time national champion of India Surya Shekhar Ganguly, IM Enamul Hossain and IM Abdulla Al-Rakib of Bangladesh, and IM Vikramaditya Kamble of India. All these players got a little over Rs. 50000 for their efforts. Ahmed Adly finished the second runner up and Rahman and Ganguly were fourth and fifth after the tiebreak was resolved under Bucholz system. First GM of Indian-subcontient, Niaz Murshed of Bangladesh, scored 7 out of 10 to be placed in the 25th position (jointly 18th to 42nd).