Sindh Chess Championships 2026

Karachi, Sindh chess community spent an outstanding weekend witnessing two major parallel  Chess Championships happening  simultaneously between 3rd July - 5th July 2026 showing growing interest of people of Pakistan in Chess. One tournament was officially affiliated by FIDE (An International Chess Federation) while the other event was organized by a separate federation who have an even stronger affiliation from Pakistan Sports Board (PSB). Although both organizations are not interlinked with each other, they're working independently contributing to promote Chess in Pakistan, organizing their own tournaments.

The Sindh Open Chess Championship (An official FIDE rated event) was organized by Hanif Qureshi on 4th and 5th July at CMA Community Centre Karachi Pakistan featuring strong players across all parts of Sindh followed by 7-rounds classical format.

Among the best performers was Tayyab Ali who finished scoring 5 out of 7 points. In the beginning he played beautifully and got three consecutive victories against Hanzala Khan, Ahmed Mubeen, and Sameen Sarfaraz.

He drew in all the remaining four rounds against the strongest opponents to wrap up the event without even a single loss.

Another notable performance was delivered by Raif Jaffri ending with 2nd rank with 5.5 points. Upon the opening of the series of matches he got three victories against Mohit Kumar, Muhammad Owais, and Awwad Mirza. He was defeated only once by Ahsan Feroz in the fourth round but he soon recovered from the loss by getting two consecutive victories by Umer Ahmed and Aun M. Asad before his only draw in the final round against Ali Shah.

Meanwhile, another event Second Chess Championship was presented by Fatima Business School at Salim Habib University in affiliation with Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) from 3rd - 5th July 2026 featuring Open, Women’s and different Age categories like U-13, U-10 and U-8.

The biggest highlight of this tournament was the performance by Mahrez Fayyaz who remained unbeaten throughout the event and finished the event with an amazing score of 07 out of 07 points and was able to earn 1st Place in U-13 Category. His unbeaten score included victories against Ahmad Zeeshan, Azam Khan Durrani, Asim Fayyaz, Jayesha Fatima, Zorauz Syed, Daniyal Bhora, and Ali Mir Shah.

Daniyal Bhora completed with a score of 05 out of 07 points and secured 5th position. During opening he won two matches against Saif and Subaat, after which he also suffered a loss against Salwa but showed resilience and recovered with two consecutive victories during his matches over Syed Wahaj and Jayesha, but right after that he faced loss against ultimate champion Mahrez Fayyaz but still managed to conclude the tournaments by securing victory against Abdul Bari.

Rayyan Ali concluded the event earning 4.5 points and he also got 1st place in the U-10  category. The event began for him with his only draw against Amanullah which was later followed by two victories against Taha Zeeshan and Abdul Bari. Later he lost to Ali Mir Shah and M. Zouraiz, while registering additional victories against Saif and Jayesha before rounding off the tournament.

In the U-8 category Azam Khan got 1st position with a notable score of 5 points. His campaign began with defeating Zahoor Ahmed in the first round, lost in round two by Mahrez Fayyaz, but soon tried and bounced back and got victory over Subaat in 3rd round, then faced another loss by Saad Ahmed and finished with consecutive victories against Ahmed, Nael, and Fatima.

Saad Ahmed earned four points and finished at 12th, while Ibrahim Tariq Imam completed the tournament with three points.

With experience people performing consistently  in tournaments is an indication  that the future of  Chess is bright in Pakistan. Pakistan's chess community currently operates through two separate federations, but even after administrative differences between both federations that co-exists  the tournaments like these really help players to build confidence and provide a platform to compete against strongest players within the country which also helps them improve their chess skills and continue playing their part in strengthening the chess community of Pakistan. 

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