Sokians Chess Club from Ambalangoda emerged the winners of the inaugural Online Rapid Chess Cup 2020 when they beat the stronger team in Lasker Chess Club in a nail biting final.
Sokians CC beat Marshall Chess Club while Lasker CC beat Anandians CC to enter the final.
The tournament was conducted by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka (CFSL) at the chess.com digital flat form. Lasker Chess Club included three national players and the Sokians had an International Master (IM) from Uzbekistan and Asian gold medallist Sasith Piyumantha.
President of the CFSL Luxman Wijesuriya said that the Online Rapid Chess Cup was a great success with the participation of 95 teams and 475 players. The event was played in five categories according to the strength of the teams and the rankings of players. The awards ceremony was also attended by Casto Abundo the CEO of the Asian Chess Federation.
Sokians managed to edge the Laskar CC 2½ to 1½ in the first final match with the support of the Uzbekistan IM, Abdisalimov Abdimalik and Kasun Wimalasuriya scoring full points and Thisal Mankith having a draw in Sokians favour. Anandians Chess Club managed to win the bronze medal by beating Marshall Chess Club in the consolation final. The Indian IM Mohammad Nubairshah Sheikh scored two full points in both rounds against Athula Russel and MAAH Ratnayake.
Chathulanka Gamage beat DCJ Karunaratne while Lahiru Munasinghe had a draw against KRVR Subasinghe in the first round to score 2½ points to win the round.
In the second round, Lahiru Munasinghe and Chathulanka Gamage drew against KRVR Subasinghe and DCJ Karunaratne to have a drawn match and finish third. (DR)