National chess champion Isuru Alahakoon clinched the fifth Kandy Open Chess Championship worked off at National Institute of Co-operative Development in Polgolla on Sunday.
Alahakoon, who recently had a successful Chess Olympiad campaign where he helped his team win a category prize for the first time in Sri Lankan chess history, in the Kandy Open he scored 10 points out of the 11 rounds.
Among some of the top players he was able to defeat in the tournament were Chandana Wijekoon, Niranga Kandearachchi, Akila Kavinda and MA Danushka. Only Priyankara Chamil and Kashyapa Kulasekera could take a half point each from the champion, managing to draw their respective rounds against Alahakoon.
Wijekoon only beaten by Alahakoon, scored 9.5 points including a draw against Chamil to finish second in the tournament. Chamil with nine points sealed third place.
Over 150 players participated in the tournament and quite surprisingly only one foreign player took part in the tournament. Dhanush Bharadwaj of India with only 1767 rating points has had a fabulous tournament where he finished sixth with nine points. He was able to remain undefeated during the entire tournament where he managed four draws against Niranga Kandearachchi, Sameera Gunasinghe, C. Lamahewa and Yasas Lamawansa
The top ten players of the tournaments:
Isuru Alahakoon (10), Chandana Wijekoon (9.5), Priyankara Chamil (9), Kashyapa Kulasekera (9), C Lamahewa (9), Dhanush Bharadwaj (9), Niranga Kandearachchi (8.5), Akila Kavinda (8.5), H.N.B. Marasinghe (8.5), Yasas Lamawansa (8.5).
