by Ravi Nagahawatte
The Zonal Chess Championships which are conducted for all chess playing clubs will commence today, with the Kandy players being the first to come out and battle for supremacy.

The organisers of the tournament, The Chess Federation of Sri Lanka, will conduct the championship for players in Kandy, Galle and Colombo.

Last year's winner, Modern Chess Club Kandy, will once again make a strong claim for the title this year too.

According to the procedure of the tournament three teams from each Zone will be taken for the final round exept from Galle.

Galle, which is considered a developing zone, will see their best players being selected from the preliminary round, and later pitted against the Colombo players before three teams from a combined Colombo/Galle Zone are selected for the final.

The finals which will be held from December 22-24 will see three teams each from Colombo/Galle Zone and Kandy Zone battling each other at the federation head quarters in Reid Avenue.

The organisers of the tournament are expected to give away board prizes for players with exeptional performances.

The players from Kandy will commence their preliminary round matches today, at the Sri Sumangala Vidyalaya Kandy while the chess players from Galle will be seen action on December 8 at the P.D.S. Kularatne Maha Vidyalaya.

The Colombo players are expected to play their matches starting on December 15 but the venue hasn't been decided as yet.