By Ishani Upatharitha

 

RESULT

Final Round of SL players:

* Ranindu D. Liyanage (2203) drew with Enamul Hossain (Bangladesh - 2402)

* Buddhika Amarasinghe (1873) beat Susal De Silva (2085)

Final rankings after nine rounds:

Key: No. / Title / Name (Country) / Points

1. GM* Ziaur Rahman (Bangladesh) 8.0

2. GM Hossain Enamul (Bangladesh) 7.5

3. CM Ranindu D. Liyanage (Sri Lanka) 6.0

4. CM Manon Reja Neer (Bangladesh) 6.0

5. IM Mohammad F. Rahman (Bangladesh) 6.0

6. FM Islam K. Aminul (Bangladesh) 6.0

7. IM Mohammad M. Uddin (Bangladesh) 6.0

8. CM A.A.C.B. Amarasinghe (Sri Lanka) 6.0

9. FM Mehdi Hasan Parag (Bangladesh) 5.5

10. CM Zia Tahsin Tajwar (Bangladesh) 5.5

* GM=Grandmaster, CM=Candidate Master, IM=International Master, FM=Fide Master

[caption id="attachment_142121" align="alignleft" width="278"] Sri Lanka’s national chess champion Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage of Ananda College won Bronze Medal at the Asian Zonal Hybrid Chess Championship 2021 yesterday (10)[/caption]

Sri Lanka’s national chess champion Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage of Ananda College, Colombo fought hard against Grandmaster (GM) Enamul Hussain and drew the game which enabled him to win the Bronze Medal of the Asian Zonal Hybrid Chess Championship 2021 yesterday (10).

The event was conducted for Zone 3.2, or the South Asian Zone, under FIDE, the world governing body of chess.

Starting with the Sicilian Defence, the GM sacrificed a Pawn and got a strong Knight against Ranindu’s bad Bishop early in the game. He used all his tricks to get winning points aiming for the Gold Medal and also berth in the Chess World Cup 2021. But due to careful play by Liyanage, who could achieve third spot with a total of six points out of nine games, the game against Hussain ended in a draw.

Prize money

Overnight leader, Bangladesh GM Ziaur Rahman (2434) also drew a hard-fought game against another Bangladeshi, the 11-year-old Manon Reja Neer. The game was stopped at eight points. Needing a full point to tie with him, in a tie-breaker, the Bangladeshi GM went past Ranindu Liyanage on points count and won the Silver Medal, finishing with 7½ points. As a result, GM Rahman won the Gold, also with a ticket to the Chess World Cup this year.

A total of $ 3,000 (Rs. 595,358) was distributed among the winners with $ 1,000 (Rs. 198,452) for the champion, $ 700 (Rs. 138,916) for the runner-up, and $ 500 (Rs. 99,226) to Liyanage, for becoming the third.

Six players got equal points

[caption id="attachment_142122" align="alignleft" width="356"] Bangladesh Grandmaster Ziaur Rahman won the Gold Medal and a ticket to the Chess World Cup this year[/caption]

FIDE Master (FM) Susal De Silva of Nalanda College, Colombo met his colleague A.A.C.B. Amarasinghe of SJP Chess Club and game ended in favour of Amarasinghe. Amarasinghe scored six points out of nine games to end up tied with five more players for the third spot.

He was placed eighth according to the tie-breaker points. De Silva had a total of five points out of nine games. Amarasinghe also received $ 100 (Rs. 19,845) for the eighth place.

Held virtually

The Asian Zonal Chess Championship 2021, the preliminary event for the FIDE World Chess Cup 2021 in the South Asia region, began on 1 June on the Tornelo Platform. A total of 39 players from Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka participated.

With their stupendous strength in the sport, India is considered itself a single zone by FIDE giving the country direct entry to the World cup.

The Bangladesh Chess Federation conducted the event from Dhaka and the Sri Lankan players took part in the event from the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka headquarters situated at Gangodawila, Nugegoda. The event was in progress from 1 to 9 June and was held according to the Swiss System of nine rounds.