Lucknow | Young chess prodigy Lakshya Nigam of Lucknow claimed the winner’s trophy at the 4th Krishna Baldev Mahana Open Chess Tournament, edging out competition on tie-break scores. The tournament, organised by Chess Club Black and White (CCBW-Lucknow) at a private city hotel, saw Lakshya and Pawan Batham of the State Tax Department finish the final round with identical scores of 6 points each. Lakshya’s superior tie-break performance earned him the championship.
In the unrated category, Himanshu Mishra impressed with 5 points, securing the title of Best Unrated Player. The tournament’s standout star in the women’s section was 14-year-old Navya Srivastava of Lucknow, who achieved a perfect score of 7 out of 7, showcasing exceptional strategy and aggressive play, emerging as one of the city’s rising female chess talents.
In the junior section, Daksh Arora dominated with 6.5 points to take the championship, while six players — Pulkit Valecha, Abhijay Singh, Arnav Srivastava, Pranav Shankar Asthana, Dibyan Chakravarty, and Kartik Agrawal — shared second place.
In the senior citizens’ category, Mohammad Irfan topped with 5 points, while Sakeeluddin, R.P. Gupta, and Jamal tied for second with 4 points each. The tournament highlighted strong competition across all categories and showcased Lucknow’s growing pool of chess talent.
