2-7th July at Ceylon Continental Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka
The 2009 Asian Junior and Girls Championship was ceremonially opened by Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, Hon. Minister of Construction and Engineering Services of Sri Lanka today in Colombo at Ceylon Continental Hotel at 9.00 a.m.
Dr. Senaratne played the inaugurating game with Women Grandmaster Swaminathan of India in this Championship whi will be held from 2nd to 7th July 2009.
Eleven countries, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore and Taiwan, are contesting for the junior crowns in Asian Championship. There are 39 players in the Asian Juniors while only 20 players in the women’s. India had sent a 17-member strong contingent, while Sri Lanka has a maximum with 26 players. Iran also sent six players, and there are two strong juniors, one from each Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Sri Lanka has a long history of Asian Juniors, since they organized the events in 2000 and 2001 in Colombo. Sri Lankan player Vajira Perera even won against the current world champion Vishy Anand back in 1984 in Madras (now Chennai) and 1985 in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, Anand was the Champion on both occasions.
The Championship takes place on 2-tth July, visit www.slchessfed.org for official reports.
News by Luxman Wijesuriya, Chess Federation of Sri Lanka
Participants in Junior section:
IM Toufighi Homayoon IRI 2488
IM Adhiban B IND 2481
IM Karthikeyan P IND 2478
IM Lalith Babu M R IND 2472
IM Ashwin Jayaram IND 2425
IM Shyam Sundar M IND 2415
FM Minhazuddin Ahmed BAN 2391
IM Amanov Zhanibek KAZ 2385
IM Narayanan Srinath IND 2383
Golizadeh Asghar IRI 2360
Darini Pouria IRI 2331
FM Vishnu Prasanna V IND 2330
Anwesh Upadhyaya IND 2316
Saravana Krishnan P IND 2311
Shreyansh Daklia IND 2279
FM Chua Zheng Yuan Terry SIN 2226
Faghirnavaz Ali IRI 2191
Subramaniam Sumant MAS 2043
Hapuarachchi H L M SRI 2001
Danushka M A N SRI 1968
Kuruwitage Yasas Kalana SRI 1963
Amarasinghe A A C B SRI 1923
Amarasena Kaveesha SRI 1914
Munasinghe Lahiru SRI 1903
Jayasundara P K U M SRI 1900
Munasingha D G S D SRI 1854
Pinto Semuthu SRI 1851
Dissanayake R D A C SRI 1828
Law Mark HKG 1794
Munasinghe Shanaka SRI 1773
Duwal Nikesh NEP 1750
Chen Pin-Hung TPE 1733
Vithanage Tharindu SRI 1706
FM Tologontegin Semetey KGZ 0
Jayasuriya Dinushka SRI 0
Kodisinghe Hirushika SRI 0
Subasinghe K R K C SRI 0
Weerakoon B D SRI 0
Widyalankara Sandalu N SRI 0
Participants in Girls section:
WGM Soumya Swaminathan IND 2309
WIM Padmini Rout IND 2243
WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty IND 2203
CM Bhakti Kulkarni IND 2203
Preethi R IND 2133
WFM Hejazipour Mitra IRI 2098
Raghavi N IND 2085
WFM Uthra P IND 2063
Asgarizadeh Minoo IRI 1947
Ranasinghe S D SRI 1852
Premanath Dinushki SRI 1770
Wang Hsin Jung TPE 1729
Abeywardana Naduni SRI 0
Abeywardana Navindi SRI 0
Abeywickrama S S P SRI 0
Batawala Nethmi SRI 0
Cooray Sakuni SRI 0
Khamboo Monalisa NEP 0
Kottahachchi As SRI 0
Premasiri Vimasha SRI 0