Bangladesh鈥檚 highest-ranked grandmaster, Ziaur Rahman, passed away at a hospital in the city shortly after suffering a heart attack during the 12th-round game of the ongoing National Chess Championship on Friday.聽
He was 50.
Tanima Parveen, a former women鈥檚 national champion, said Zia was declared dead around 6:00pm at Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital shortly after he was taken there.
鈥楬e (Zia) was contesting against grandmaster Enamul Hossain Rajib in the national championship. He suffered a hiccup and suddenly collapsed around 5:50pm. We took him to the hospital within 10 minutes. But doctors said he had already died,鈥� said Tanima, who was聽 serving as an arbitrator for the competition.
Enamul said it took them a few seconds to realise that he had suffered a massive heart attack.
鈥榃hen he was playing, it never felt like he was sick,鈥� he said.
鈥業t was my move. So, when he was falling down, I thought he was leaning down to pick up a water bottle. But then he collapsed, and we rushed him to the hospital,鈥� said fellow grandmaster Enamul.
Enamul said that Zia鈥檚 son, Tahsin Tajwar Zia, was playing at the next table.
Zia was the second Bangladeshi to receive the title of grandmaster, after Niaz Murshed.
Zia, who earned the grandmaster title in 2002, is survived by his widow, Sultana Labonno, and only son, Tahsin, a FIDE Master and also a national chess player of Bangladesh.
Zia holds the highest-ever FIDE rating points achieved by a Bangladeshi chess player鈥�2570鈥攊n October 2005.
He was also the top Bangladeshi grandmaster in the latest rankings updated by the International Chess Federation in July 2024, with 2423 rating points.聽
Zia made another record in 2022 by becoming the country鈥檚 first father-son duo to represent the national team when he played with his son, Tahsin, in the 44th Chess Olympiad in India.
Zia, a Dhaka University graduate, earned the International Master norm in 1993 with his solid positional playing style.
The ministry of youth and sports, the Bangladesh Chess Federation, the Bangladesh Football Federation, and several other organisations expressed deep condolences at his sudden death.
