Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, January 12

Neeraj Bansal beat Sagun Sundar Lawoti and won the APCA Chess Championship here on Monday. In the best-of-three final, Bansal came from behind to beat Lawoti 2-1.

The players were tied at 1-1 last weekend, and Bansal beat Lawoti with a board value of 41 to 17 in the deciding match on Monday. Lawoti won the first match, while Bansal won the second, forcing a third and deciding match.

Bansal won Rs 3,000 along with APCA Chess Championship trophy and APCA Grandmasters certificate and Dinner coupons for two persons worth Rs 750, while Lawoti bagged Rs 1,500 and a certificate.

The other semi-finalists — Krishna Hari Ghimire and Suman Dahal — received

certificate and dinner coupons for two worth Rs 500 each.

In all, 20 players from The Himalayan Times and Annapurna Post took part in the tournament that got began on December 6, 2003. The players were divided into four Pools with five players each. Top each from all the four pools advanced to the round-robin semi-finals.

In the semi-finals, Bansal defeated all three players, while Lawoti took berth in the final on better board value after all the three players got three points each.