Ravana Int'l Chess C'ship attracts top GMs and IMs
Sri Lanka will be organizing the biggest ever Chess tournament to be
held in Sri Lanka in September 12-20, 2009 at Ceylon Continental Hotel
in Colombo, with 25-30 International Grandmasters and equal number of
International Masters (IMs) expected to compete for a total prize money
worth US$ 15,000.
The Tournament, organized by the Blue and Gold Chess Club with the
support of Chess Federation of Sri Lanka (CFSL) has already received the
endorsement of the President Secretariat and the Ministry of Tourism.
The Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Muditha Hettigama said that
already 12 GMs and 3 Women GMS have confirmed participation. Although
such tournaments held in South Asia usually attract mostly top players
from the region, the Ravana International Tourney has already attracted
GMs from Belgium, Hungary, Russia, Georgia and Ukraine, Armenia,
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan in addition to Bangladesh and India.
Hettigama said that with one whole month to go for the tournament,
this number is extremely encouraging and attributes it to the peaceful
environment that prevails in the country subsequent to the eradication
of terrorism.
He added that the Ministry of Tourism has already contacted
diplomatic missions in Germany, France, the United Kingdom. Canada,
United States, Iran, China, Indonesia, Vietnam requesting support in
securing the participation of additional GMs and IMs.
The organizers expect 150 foreign players to be in Sri Lanka to
participate in the event which will be held over a period of 9 days.
Secretary of CFSL, Luxman Wijesuriya said that this is a unique
opportunity for strong local players to gain valuable experience and
even secure norms towards IM titles.
He pointed out that alternatively, local players have to pay
inordinate sums of money to play in similar tournaments overseas, not to
mention the fact that this involves a net outflow of money.
The event has been advertised in all International chess websites and
more information can be obtained at http://blueandgoldchessclub.com/Ravana/.
GMs who have already confirmed participation, with country and FIDE
rating, are as follows:
Dimitri Komarov, Ukraine (2550); Vadim Malakhatko, Belgium (2570);
Eldar Gasanov, Russia (2536); Horvath Jozsef, Hungary (2567); Merab
Gaunashvili, Georgia (2574); Mikheil Mchedlishvili, Georgia (2592); Niaz
Murshed, Bangladesh (2415); Neelotpal Das, India (2474); Amon Simutowe,
Zambia (2481); Filippov Anton, Uzbekistan (2595); Anuar Ismagambetov,
Kazakhstan (2531); Tigran Kotanjian, Armenia (2580); Vladimir Gerogiev,
Makedonia (2530); Krasimir Rusev, Bulgeria (2543).
Confirmed Women Grandmasters: Anna Zozulia, Belgium (2371); Tania
Sachdev, India (2423); Saumya Swaminathan, India (2309) |
