Nubairshah Shaikh and Sakshi Chitlange dominate SACC Open and Women Championships 2023, Sayantan second
IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win SACC Championship 2023 Open. WGM-elect WIM Sakshi Chitlange scored a perfect 7/7 to become the champion in the Women's event. Nubair won this event for the second consecutive time. He won the inaugural edition which was then named 'SAARC Championship' in 2019. The highest rated player of the event, GM Sayantan Das scored 7.5/9 to finish second. His sole loss was against the eventual winner. Nepal no.2 FM Rupesh Jaiswal scored 6/9 to finish third. Sakshi finished a staggering 1.5 points ahead of the field Bangladesh no.4 woman, Wadifa Ahmed scored 5.5/7 to secure second and Nepal no.3 woman, WFM Sujana Lohani was placed third with a score of 4.5/7. The top three prizes in the Open were NRS 150000, 100000 and 50000, for Women it was NRS 100000, 60000 and 40000 along with a trophy and medal each respectively. All photos are by ChessBase Nepal unless stated otherwise.
Nubairshah successfully defends his title, Sakshi scores a perfect 7/7
IM Nubairshah Shaikh set the tone of his event by winning the first game against the toughest opponent in the field, India's 81st GM Sayantan Das. His sole draw was against the eventual second runner-up, FM Rupesh Jaiswal in the fourth round. WIM Sakshi Chitlange, also was the highest rated player among the Women. She was rated 302 points higher than her nearest rival. Both champions completely decimated the field as they finished a full point and 1.5 points ahead of the competition respectively. Apart from gaining valuable Elo rating points, Nubairshah and Sakshi won ₹93735 and ₹62490 approx.
Sayantan - Nubairshah, Round 1
The first round witnessed the clash between the top two highest rated players in the Open section - GM Sayantan Das (2508) and IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh (2415). It could have gone either player's way. The above position seems advantageous for White. He needed to play 41.Qg5+ Qxg5 42.Nxg5 Bxh6 43.Nxf7+ to capitalize on his advantage and keep chances for a full point. 41.Rd2 Be7 42.Qf4 Kh8 43.h7? turned things in Black's favor. First White self-pinned his rook and then sacrificed his strong h6-passed pawn which proved to be a thorn on Black's kingside.
After 48...Rxg5, there was a unique pin on the c1-h6 diagonal. Both relative and absolute pin existed simultaneously by the queens by pinning a different rook.
White has one last chance to save the game. Perpetual check is the only option, but how? 57.Qxf7+?? Rg6 58.Qh7+ Rh6 and it was over.
Wadifa - Sakshi, Round 3
Wadifa Ahmed (BAN, 1923) went for an all out attack 28.Nf7+?? which caused her to lose material and attacking potential. 28...Rxf7 29.Bxf7 Qxf7 30.Bxh6 Bh7 and Black has managed to save everything. WGM-elect WIM Sakshi Chitlange (2225) scored her third win in-a-row.
Chief Guest at the Inauguration Ceremony: Tanka Lal Ghising, Member Secretary NSC, Special Guest: Bharat Singh Chauhan, Vice-President, Asian Chess Federation, GM Nigel Short, FIDE Director for Chess Development, IA Dharmendra Kumar, Deputy President SACC.
A total of ten players including a GM and an IM in the Open and eight players including a WIM in the Women took part from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan in this five-day Round-Robin invitational Rating tournament. There were nine rounds in the Open and seven in the Women section. It was organized by Nepal Chess Federation at Hotel View Bhrikuti in Lalitpur, Nepal from 14th to 18th June 2023. The time control for the tournament was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment.
Replay Round 1-9 Open games
Replay Round 1-7 Women games
Final standings in Open
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | ||
| 1 | 10 | IM | Mohammad, Nubairshah Shaikh | IND | 2415 | 8,5 | 0 | 33,50 | 3,5 | 8 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | Das, Sayantan | IND | 2508 | 7,5 | 0 | 26,00 | 2,5 | 7 | |
| 3 | 7 | FM | Jaiswal, Rupesh | NEP | 2146 | 6 | 0 | 20,50 | 1 | 5 | |
| 4 | 5 | FM | Bhandari, Kshitiz | NEP | 2028 | 5,5 | 0 | 16,75 | 1 | 5 | |
| 5 | 6 | FM | Amer, Karim | PAK | 2046 | 5 | 0 | 18,00 | 2 | 5 | |
| 6 | 8 | FM | Mehdi, Hasan Parag | BAN | 2212 | 3,5 | 1 | 8,75 | 0,5 | 3 | |
| 7 | 4 | FM | Mohammed Abdul, Malek | BAN | 2113 | 3,5 | 0 | 9,25 | 1 | 3 | |
| 8 | 9 | Silwal, Purushottam | NEP | 1828 | 3 | 0 | 6,00 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 9 | 3 | Lama, Surbir | NEP | 2032 | 2,5 | 0 | 6,75 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 10 | 2 | Dechen, Dorji | BHU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | 0 |
Final standings in Women
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | ||
| 1 | 6 | WIM | Chitlange, Sakshi | IND | 2225 | 7 | 0 | 21,00 | 3 | 7 | |
| 2 | 5 | Wadifa, Ahmed | BAN | 1923 | 5,5 | 0 | 13,50 | 1,5 | 5 | ||
| 3 | 3 | WFM | Lohani, Sujana | NEP | 1753 | 4,5 | 0 | 9,00 | 0,5 | 4 | |
| 4 | 2 | WCM | Jannatul, Ferdous | BAN | 1852 | 4 | 0 | 10,00 | 1 | 3 | |
| 5 | 1 | Dhimal, Shanti | NEP | 1466 | 3 | 0 | 4,00 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 6 | 4 | Shrestha, Riya | NEP | 1240 | 2 | 1 | 2,00 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 7 | 7 | Gurung, Sushila | NEP | 1366 | 2 | 0 | 4,00 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 8 | 8 | WFM | Nuha, Rilwan | MDV | 1108 | 0 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | 0 |