Navin Wins Colombo Chess Festival 2011

Navin Kanna, the top seed from India won the 4th Colombo International Chess Festival convincingly. From the beginning he led the event and finally he drew with RMCM Rajapakse in the final round to finish with 8 1/2 points to achieve the title. Navin recieved a cash prize of Rs. 50,000/- with the Trophy and the Gold Medal. He drew with former Sri Lankan National Chess Champion, GC Anuruddha in an earlier round and gave another draw to one of his fellow Indians, Lake Mithawala in the 5th round. R.S. Kalugampitiya of Sri Lanka won the Silver Medal with 8 points while Puneet Jaiswal from India had to satisfy with the Bronze medal on the tie breaker after Tying with Kalugampitiya with same points. Three other players, RMCM Rajapakse, GC Anuruddha and WCC Perera also tied to the 2nd place with 8 points and all five shared a cash prize of Rs. 15,000/- each. 7 other players, Prasanna Kurukulasuriya, Romesh Weerawardena, RS Gunasinghe, PKUM Jayasundara, ILK Tennakoon, Pawan Jodija and Sisira Kumara tied for the sixth place.

The 4th Colombo Chess Festival was organized in Colombo by Mr. Luxman Wijesuriya, Passed Pawn Chess Club, on behalf of the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka and FIDE. Miss Pramodya Senanayake emereged the Women's Champion of the event with 7 points. Sachini Ranasinghe also scored 7 points but had to satisfy with the Silver medal due to the lesser tie breaker. Both of them shared Rs. 8,000 each while young, Dilhara Ishini Wickramasinghe scored 6 1/2 points to place third in the women's event.

The category Prize winners are as follows;

Under 8
1. GMH Thilakaratne
2. Ranidu Dilshan Liyanage
3. Nisala Artigala

Under 8 Girl
1. THD Niklesha Tharushi
2. Asani Sankalpana
3. Sandali Nishali Fernando

Under 10
1. M. Sasith Nipun Piyumantha
2. H.G. Denuwan Theekshana
3. Achinthya Shamane Kaluarachchi

Under 10 Girls
1. Binudi Yapa
2. Roshell Nathasha Askey
3. GPY Wijesuriya

Under 12
1. Supun Dasantha Kuruppu
2. Minul Doluweera
3. Niketh Gamage

Under 12 Girls
1. Savant Riya (India)
2. Sajini Balasuriya
3. Tejaswini Sagar (India)

Under 15
1. Dimithri Mudith Premachandra
2. S. Harishman
3. KDT Madushan

Under 15 Girls
1. Manisha Sachini gunaratne
2. Shelani De Silva
3. MKT Chankamie