HNB Assurance moves chess out of Colombo

CHESS: In a first move for the corporate sector, HNB Assurance has come forward to promote chess in areas outside the traditional chess centres of the country.

HNB Assurance has pledged to introduce and develop chess in two schools, one in the Badulla District and another in the Galle District.

Accordingly, HNB Assurance will hand over chess equipment to Passara Maha Vidyalaya in Badulla and Wanduramba Maha Vidyalaya in Galle District and provide regular coaching lessons with support from the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka.

Manjula De Silva, Managing Director of HNB Assurance said that chess is a game that is currently attracting a lot of young people and moreover is an exercise that develops mental faculties that are all important to young children.

Observing that currently most of the strong players and schools are located in Colombo, Kandy and Galle, de Silva said that it was felt that taking the game to more rural areas would be a timely move.

Harinlal Aturupane, President of the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka said that there is immense potential to develop the game all over the country since it does not involve vast amounts of money. He also pointed out that a couple of decades ago, there were no prominent players in the Southern Province but once the game was introduced to Galle and Matara, there emerged quite a number of strong chess players.

Galle schools have regularly won national honours in the schools circuit and Athula Russell, who won the national title on several occasions also hails from Galle, he added.