LAHORE: Nameeqa Aslam from Lahore won the 2nd Punjab Women’s Chess Championship that concluded on October 27, 2013 here at MARS Hotel, Faisal Town. In all 24 players from across the Punjab took part in the event. Nameeqa won the title by scoring 4.5 out of possible 5, she lost half a point in second round when she had to content for a draw against Hibah Shabkhez. In the fifth and final round, Nameeqa faced the tournament leader Urooj Saeed who had won her all four games and needed only a draw to win the title. It was a hard fought match and in the endings Urooj, playing with black, lost the match. On the second board, Mehak Gul from Lahore beat Maryam Nasir from Gujranwala and got third position. Zartaj Saeed beat Hibah while Amber Hasham beat Sidra to get fourth and fifth positions respectively. Nameeqa, Urooj, Mehak, Zartaj and Amber will represent Punjab in up coming 4th National Women’s Chess Championship.
The championship was organised by the Chess Association of Punjab (CAP). As compared to previous championship, which was held last year at the same venue and was first ever in the history of Punjab chess, improvements in many aspects were seen: number of participants and playing strength. “Dr Naeem Hamid Mirza, President CAP and Secretary General of Chess Federation of Pakistan, took personal interest to make this event a huge sucess. It is noteworthy that before the start of this championship, players from Sindh were dominating and representing Pakistan abroad since long because there was no one to challenge them. But with a struggle of two years, the CAP, under the leadership of Dr. Naeem and Waqar Ahmad Madni has been able to snatch one place in national women chess team and are aiming for more in the year 2014,” said a spokesman for the CAP on Monday.
