Aspiring Grandmasters Alo, Lubaba shine brighter than superior competitors

Omnia Binta Yusuf Lubaba and Nusrat Jahan Alo outperformed their superior competitors and the duo took turns to thrive in two separate chess events in the ongoing Sheikh Kamal 2nd Bangladesh Youth Games, inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday evening amid huge enthusiasm generated by budding athletes arriving from across the country.

Friends turned to competitors as Lubaba became champion in the girl's rapid chess event on Saturday by surpassing Alo, who put Lubaba behind today to win the gold medal in girl's blitz chess event. Courtesy of the two, Chattogram Division and Dhaka Division are tied in the medals table after Dhaka's Manon Reza Neer, hailing from Narayanganj, won both gold medals in boy's rapid and blitz events.

Alo (L) about to play her move against Lubaba. Photo: Star

Lubaba (Rapid chess rating: 1585) and Alo (1624) have not been as well known as Warsia Khusbu (1830) or Wadifa Ahmed (1756) but they managed to stand tall in two different events despite possessing inferior rapid chess rankings. 

While Lubaba from Chattogram is struggling to participate in the Bangladesh Chess Federation (BCF)-sponsored tournaments due to distance and expense, Alo, on the other hand, has been able to avail opportunities to take part in the chess tournaments despite residing in Cumilla.

"Apart from school and coaching, I have been regularly training individually since I don't have any partner to practice with in Chattogram, where one or two tournaments are held yearly," said Lubaba, a tenth-grader.

Lubaba however played twice abroad: India in 2019 and Azerbaijan in 2022. She was supposed to represent Bangladesh at the World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad in Azerbaijan in October last year but a passport problem prevented the latter from being part of the Bangladesh contingent.

She added, "I need advanced training to go further but CJKS do not organise such training and I have to bear the expense if I want to receive such advanced training in Chattogram."

For Alo, it has been a different case as the SSC candidate has been participating in every BCF-organized tournament and has been a serial winner in junior and school competitions.

 "I really enjoy playing chess compared to studying. To be honest, I immerse myself in chess the whole day because I want to be the country's first female Grandmaster," said Alo, who also finished fourth in the national women's chess championship.

"There are no chess tournaments and training in Cumilla. With the support of my family and club, I have been playing tournaments in Dhaka while travelling from Cumilla," said Alo, who learned chess from her father.

Before coming to this stage, both Lubaba and Alo learned playing chess from their respective family members, who are still playing an instrumental role in their aspiration of becoming female Grandmaster in Bangladesh.

They are now confident enough to produce a third gold medal for Chattogram in the standard chess event beginning tomorrow.