It is often difficult to recognise Sayeda Jasimunnessa Khatun, as the octogenarian has been contributing to the field of chess for decades as Rani Hamid, who is one of the oldest active women players in the chess world.
The chess icon remains a long-term source of inspiration for the new generation, and the first Women’s International Master from Bangladesh remained unstoppable even in her latest attempt at the age of 82.
She guided Bangladesh Ansar and VDP team to emerge as unbeaten champions in the Women’s Chess League, which concluded on January 29.
Born in Sylhet in 1944, Rani began playing chess with her father at an early age at home and used to bunk school to play chess with her friends before starting her competitive career at the age of 34.
She then continued her journey, and now her only pursuit is playing chess, although she experiences discomfort during practice sessions on the virtual platform.
‘Actually, I don’t do any other major work, so I have enough time to play chess,’ said Rani.
‘Besides, sport is in my blood; my father and my husband were sports lovers, and even my sons are also known athletes in the country.’
Despite being quite talented in chess and having a sports-friendly family, Rani was a homemaker with four sons after marrying sports organiser Lt Col MA Hamid (1932-2008), who encouraged her to pursue the game.
She won the WIM title in 1985, a year after she won six consecutive national titles from 1979 to 1984, and four years after she secured third place in the first Asian Women’s Chess Championship in Hyderabad, India, in 1981, in her maiden international appearance.
Rani won national titles over 20 times and became champion in the British Women’s Championship three times (1983, 1985, 1989), as well as being crowned Commonwealth Chess Champion once in 2017 before winning a Zonal Champion title in 2018.
Although she cannot remember exactly how many national titles she has won so far, she did not forget to recall her most memorable achievement of winning the British Women’s Championship title in 1983.
‘I never counted how many times I won national titles. I guess, I won 30 to 40 gold medals at different levels of national and international competitions,’ she replied to a question.
‘But winning the British Women’s Championship was a different level of satisfaction for me. It is because Britain ruled us for centuries, and I lifted the title by beating them. So it was a different level of good feelings,’ she said.
When asked if she has any regrets about not achieving the Grandmaster title, she replied, ‘Not really. It might have been possible if the federation had taken initiatives at my early stage.’
‘But I should be grateful for the respect I have received so far from the people. It was beyond my expectations. Sometimes I feel I wasn’t supposed to get this level of honour.’
She had one regret she could never overcome—making blunders during her games after coming close to winning the title.
‘I am naturally quick-minded from my childhood, so making blunders during crucial moments of the game is one of my bad habits. Still, I carry the bad habit of making blunders, which have cost me many titles,’ she added.
She adopted the name Rani Hamid, with ‘Rani’ serving as her family name and ‘Hamid’ added in honour of her husband.
