Speed chess tournament on board Lucknow Metro

Lucknow’s chess culture took a giant leap when a speed chess tournament was organised on board a Metro train on Sunday morning.

“Whiz kids in age-group 8-15 took part in the tournament. It is a revolutionary concept, a first in India. Earlier, it was seen only in tube rails in Europe,” said Junaid Ahmed, tournament director and former UP chess champion. The event was organised by Chess Club Black and White.

Passengers travelling from IT station to CCS airport were in for a surprise when they saw boys and girls playing speed chess with a three-minute time control. The tournament was on in twin Metro coaches.

An added attraction was the youth members of Ilyas Khan group playing guitar and playing Bollywood songs to cheer the players.

“If you love chess, you can play it anywhere and anytime. And like the Metro, chess resonates in the history, art and culture of Lucknow. We wanted to tell Lucknowites to come out and play,” said Ahmad.

Aryan Singh, 14, of Jaipuria School won the Chess Club Black & White Speed Chess trophy and Himmika Amarnani, city’s toprated under-14 player was awarded the Best Girl Trophy.

Lucknow’s youngest FIDE-rated girl player Sanvi Agarwal also participated in the tournament. Usually, chess tournaments are organised in quiet halls where arbiter has to work in silence. But on Sunday, FIDE arbiter Hemant Sharma had to pull off an acrobatic feat by balancing the laptop in one hand and conducting the pairings in the moving train.

First Published: Apr 08, 2019 10:54 IST