GM Ziaur Rahman Zia of SAIF Sporting Club emerged as unbeaten champion in the Mujib Birth Centenary Invitational FIDE Rating Chess tournament that concluded on Saturday at Bangladesh Chess Federation hall-room of National Sports Council old building in Dhaka.
GM Zia earned 7.5 points out of nine games to clinch the title. Anata Choudhury of Uttara Central Chess Club became unbeaten runner-up with seven points while FM Mehdi Hasan Parag of Titas Club finished at 3rd position with 6.5 points.
IM Abu Sufian Shakil of Bangladesh Navy became 4th and IM Mohammad Minhaz Uddin of Bangladesh Navy became 5th with 6 points each.
Nine players earned 5.5 points each. Their positions are 6th Mohammad Fahad Rahman of Bangladesh Police, 7th-FM Subrota Biswas of Bangladesh Navy, 8th-FM Sheikh Nasir Ahmed of Bangladesh Navy, 9th- Sariatullah of Bangladesh Police, 10th-CM Sohel Chwodhury of Titas Club, 11th-CM Tahsin Tajwar Zia of Uttara Central Chess Club, 12th-FM Mohammad Javed of Bangladesh Navy, 13th-CM Manon Reja Neer of Elegant International Chess Academy and 14th-Md Masum Hossain of Bangladesh Biman.
WIM Rani Hamid of Bangladesh Police became first among female players. Four female players earned four points each and their position are 2nd-WCM Ahmed of Bangladesh Navy, 3rd-WFM Nazrana Khan Eva, 4th-Kazi Zarin Tasnim of Debonair Chess Club and 5th- WFM Noshin Anjum of Bangladesh Navy.
The ninth or last round games were held on Saturday where GM Zia drew with FM Parag, Anata beat CM Sohel, IM Minhaz split point with IM Shakil, IM Fahad split point with FM Nasir, FM Javed beat FM Syed Mahfuzur Rahman Emon, CM Manon beat CM Mahtabuddin Ahmed, Swarnavo Choudhury drew with CM S M Sharon. CM Tahsin beat WIM Rani Hamid, Masum beat Avik Sarker, CM Sharif Hossain beat WFM Eva, CM Jamal Uddin beat WCM Walijah, Jabed Al Azad beat WFM Noshin, Sakline Mostafa Sajid beat WCM Jannatul Ferdous, CM Nayem Haque beat Nusrat Jahan Alo, CM Monir Hossain beat FM Md. Saif Uddin, Kazi Zarin beat Sajidul Haque, Marzouq Chowdhury beat Wadifa Ahmed and Syed Ridwan beat Istar Jahan Diba.
The prize distribution and closing ceremony was held after games at a local hotel on the day.
State Minister for Youth and Sports Mohammad Zahid Ahsan Russell, MP, was the chief guest at the programme and distributed the prizes.
Champion Zia received Taka 0.1 million and runner-up Anata received Taka fifty thousand while 3rd place finisher FM Parag got Taka thirty thousand as prize money.
