Neelash Saha clinches LBHM Chess Festival Rating Open for the third consecutive year
19/06/2025 - IM Neelash Saha won 14th LBHM Rating Open 2025 part of Late Bharatbai Halkude Memorial Chess Festival 2025. Neelash dominated the tournament with a perfect score 9/9 and finished a whopping 1.5 points ahead of the rest. Six players - IM Aaryan Varshney, Shrayan Majumder, Viresh Sharnarthi, Badrinath S, Arijit Ghosh and CM Prathamesh Sherla scored 7.5/9 each. They secured second to seventh place according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the entire festival was ₹3033000, for Classical Rating tournament it was ₹123300. The top three prizes were ₹135000, ₹100000 and ₹51000 along with a trophy each respectively. This is the third consecutive year Neelash has won this event. Photo: Shahid Ahmed