Rani Hamid

Rani Hamid (born 14 July 1944) is a Bangladeshi chess player. She became the country's first Woman International Master in 1985. She has been the national champion 20 times, most recently at the 38th Women National Championship at the age of 75. She had won her 19th National Women's Chess Championship title in August 2018. She is also a three-time winner of the British Women's Chess Championship. She became Zonal Champion in 2018, received the Journalists Choice Award in the Chess World Cup 2018 in Russia, and won the gold medal in Commonwealth Chess 2017 in Delhi.

Early life and career

Hamid was born Sayeda Jasimunnessa Khatun in Sylhet in 1944. She started playing chess at the age of 34.

Hamid won the national title for six consecutive years from 1979 to 1984.

Personal life Hamid with her husband MA Hamid, after their wedding in 1959. Hamid was married to Lieutenant colonel MA Hamid, a sports organiser, from 1959 to 2008 (his death). Their son Kaiser Hamid is a former football player for Mohammedan Sporting Club and the captain of Bangladesh national football team during the 1980s and 1990s. Her other son, Sohel Hamid, was a national squash champion. Her daughter is Jabin Hamid.