IM Srinath Narayanan (India) wins " 2nd Colombo International Chess Festival 2009" International Rating Chess Tournament

Srinath Narayanan, a 15 year old International Chess Master from India won the Colombo International Chess Festival. The International Rating tournament held at Royal College Auditorium from 20th to 24th February 2009.

Srinath scored a total of 8 points out of possible 9 games including a win against the stronger International Master from India , He earned a cash prize of Rs. 40,000/- with the Trophy and the Gold Medal. RR Laxman. RR Laxman who was the top seed had to satisfy with the Silver Medal on the tie breaker after tying for the 2nd place with only a draw against the Sri Lanka National Chess Champion, Athula Russell in the last round. RS Kalugampitiya reached the third place after scoring a full point against a lower rated Isuru Alahakoon in the final round and earned the Bronze. He managed to be the top scorer among the Sri Lankan Players participated. Anup Deshmuk, also an International Master from India was also tied for the equal 2nd place with 7 ½ points. Trio, Laxman, Kalugampitiya and Anup shared a total cash prize of Rs. 50,000/- The tournament conducted by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka was organized by the Pass Pawns Chess Club had a total prizes worth of Rs. 245,000/=. Athula Russell, Romesh Weerawardena and Prasanna Kurukulasuriya tied for the equal fifth place while 5 players, CKD Fonseka, TS Mallawarachchi, Jain Niklesh, GC Anuruddha and TGM Pieris tied for the 8th place to share a cash prize of Rs. 15,000/-

Dinushki Premanath won the Women’s championship after tying with Naduni Abetwardena with 5 ½ points to earn the trophy for the beast women player. Both Dinushki and Naduni shared a total cash prize of Rs. 16,000/-. Navodya Selvaratnam, Ashanthi Rajapakse, Dilshani Ranasinghe, IDGK Jayasooriya, DW Dissanayake and Ayeshmanthi Gunaratne tied for the 3rd place in women’s.

By Luxman Wijesuriya, Hony. Secretary CFSL