Winning start for BD

Bangladeshi players made a good start in the Asian Zonal Chess Championship which started at the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo yesterday. National Champion GM Niaz Murshed, GM Ziaur Rahman, GM Reefat Bin Sattar and GM Enamul Hossain Rajib won their respective matches of first round against their Sri Lankan counterparts Priyankara Chamil, Kavinda Akhila, TSS Peiris and Thrimavitharana Ravin respectively.
In the women's section, national champion Shrmin Sultana Shirin and WIM Shamima Akter Liza won their respective matches too, against the host country's Senarath Kavindi and Jayathilake Mihirani respectively.
34 players from Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are participating in the open section and 12 players from Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka
are participating in the women's section.