Ravana International Chess Championship to attract top Grandmasters
and International Masters
by Dinesh WEERAWANSA in Germany
CHESS: Sri Lanka will be organizing the biggest ever Chess Tournament
to be held in Sri Lanka in September (12th-20th 2009) at Ceylon
Continental Hotel in Colombo, with 25-30 International Grandmasters
(GMs) and equal number of International Masters (IMs) expected to
compete for a total prize fund of US$ 15,000.
The tournament, organised by the Blue and Gold Chess Club with the
support of Chess Federation of Sri Lanka (CFSL) has already received the
endorsement of the Presidential 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 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:
1. Dimitri Komarov Ukraine 2550, 2. Vadim Malakhatko Belgium 2570, 3.
Eldar Gasanov Russia 2536, 4. Horvath József Hungary 2567, 5. Merab
Gagunashvili Georgia 2574, 6. Mikheil Mchedlishvili Georgia 2592, 7.
Niaz Murshed Bangladesh 2415, 8. Neelotpal Das India 2474, 9. Amon
Simutowe Zambia 2481, 10. Filippov Anton Uzbekistan 2595, 11. Anuar
Ismagambetov Kazakhstan 2531, 12. Tigran Kotanjian Armenia
2580.Confirmed Women Grandmasters: 13. Anna Zozulia Belgium 2371, 14.
Tania Sachdev India 2423, 15. Saumya Swaminathan India 2309.
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