Athula Russell wins 'Royal Challenge'
National Champion Athula Russell had it easy in the end, winning the
inaugural Royal Challenge International Chess Championship by a wide
margin of 1.5 points.
Russell, in fact, took an unassailable lead at the end of the
penultimate round when he beat Prasanna Krishna of India (who finished
third).
The last round was therefore a formality and he agreed to a quick
draw with Chandana Wijekoon, the only other unbeaten player in the
tournament.
Lahiru Hapuarachchi of Kingswood College, Kandy squeezed into second
place ahead of Krishna on the tie-break after both players finished on 7
points.
Exceptional
The tournament also saw exceptional performance by Lahiru Munasinghe
(Ananda College), Semuthu Pinto (St. Anne's College, Kurunegala) and
Savindi Jayaratne all of whom defeated more fancied players in what is
easily the best chess tournaments organizd in Sri Lanka in recent times.
The tournament was held over 9 rounds at the Royal College Union
Auditorium. It was organized by the Blue and Gold Chess Club, with the
support of the Royal College Chess Club.
Hewelett-Packard and Mobitel were the principal sponsors of the
tournament which attracted a total of 130 players.
The total prize fund was Rs. 230,000.00. A total of 80 players
received cash prizes and 24 won medals. Russell took home Rs. 40,000 in
addition to the Gold Medal in the 'Open' category and the Champion's
trophy.
In other categories, former national player, Chathuri Hettige,
returning to competitive chess after a lapse of five years, won the Gold
in the Women's section as well as Rs. 20,000.
Prizes were awarded for best performances among players Under 10,
Under 12 and Under 15 (Girls and Boys), as well as for the best
performances in three rating categories, 'unrated', 'between 1200 and
1799', 'between 1800 and 1999' and 'over 2000'.
Sponsorship
Muditha Hettigama, Tournament Organizer, expressed thanks to
Hewlett-Packard and Mobitel for coming up with sponsorship packages at
short notice. In particular he thanked Priyantha Kariyapperuma, Chairm,
Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) and Ms. Tharanika De
Almeida, President, Sports Association, TRC, for extending their fullest
support in securing sponsorship for the tournament.
He also thanked Mr. Lakshmindra Fernando (Country Budiness Manager,
Personal Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard) and Roshan Kaluarachchi
(Marketing Manager, Mobitel) for sponsoring the event. |