LAHORE - The 29th National Chess Championship got underway here at the School of International Studies in Science and Arts (SISSA) Hall on Friday which was being participated largely by 86 top selected players of the country.
The championship is being organised by the Chess Federation of Pakistan (CFP) in which top players including International Masters Mahmood Lodhi and Shahzad Mirza are taking part while CM Anwar Qureshi and almost all the national masters are also partaking in the competition Top four players will be selected to represent the country in the World Chess Olympiads which are going to be held at Tromso, Norway in August 2014.
In the first round of the championship, 42 games were decided without any upsets. All the title holders won their respective games easily. The championship will conclude on April 30.
Earlier, CFP secretary Dr Naeem Hamid Mirza inaugurated the championship. Speaking on the occasion, he expressed his high appreciations for the talent of Pakistani youth. Meanwhile, Abdul Aziz Khan of Balochistan Chess Association (BCA) lamented the behaviour of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) for the promotion of sports in the country as it did not respond to the many requests of the CFP for an early release of its meager annual grant.