June 18, Nepal
Indian IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh became the champion of The SACC Chess Championship 2023. Only the undefeated player of the open category scored eight and a half points and bagged 150 thousand as a cash prize. Nubairshah was also the champion of the event’s first edition held in November 2019 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Top-rated player of the championship GM Sayantan Das (India) was the runner-up with seven and a half points and got 100 thousand cash. The national champion of Nepal, FM Rupesh Jaiswal secured third place with six points and 50 thousand cash. Local hero Rupesh succeeds to score half points from each of the GM Das & IM Nubair.
In the women’s category, Indian WIM Sakshi Chitlange became the undefeated champion, scoring with full 7 points in 7 games and bagging 100 thousand cash. WFM Wadifa Ahmed of Bangladesh became the runner-up, scoring five and a half points, and bagged 60 thousand cash. Whereas national women champion of Nepal WFM Sujana Lohani succeeded to place in the third position, scoring four and a half points and bagging 40 thousand cash too.
Both divisions play in a round-robin league format. A total of 10 players from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan participated in the open category and 7 players from Bangladesh, India, and Nepal participated in the women’s category.
The Mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Mr. Chiribabu Awale hands over the trophy to the champion of both categories. An honorable member of Bagamati Provincial Assembly Madhsudan Poudel, the Mayor of the host town Gajendra Maharjan, the Deputy President of the South Asian Chess Council Dharmendra Kumar, and SACC Technical Delegate Haroon Or Rashid were also present at the prize-giving ceremony. The president of the Nepal Chess Federation Bidur Prasad Gautam declared the closing of the championship.
Final Standing Open:
Final Standing Women:
IA Umesh KC, Deputy Chief Arbiter (Councillor of the FIDE Rules Commission)