IM L.M.S.T. De Silva and WFM Devindya Oshini Gunawardhana won the Western Asia Juniors and Girls Chess Championships, respectively, for a double victory by Sri Lanka. A total of 24 boys and 31 girls participated from six countries, namely Bangladesh, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait and host Sri Lanka.
The tournament was a 9-round Swiss System held from 15th to 23rd July 2024 and organized by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation and FIDE.
Visit chess-results.com for round by round results and to download games. Here are final standings.
Chess Federation of Sri Lanka president Luxman Wijesuriya (left) awarding the Western Asia Junior champion’s trophy to IM L.M.S.T. De Silva of Sri Lanka.
De Silva achieved his first GM norm. The Chess Federation of Sri Lanka has given both De Silva and Oshini 100,000 Rupees each. The CFSL had earlier announced a special prize of one million Rupees to the first Sri Lankan grandmaster.
Chess Federation of Sri Lanka president Luxman Wijesuriya (left) awarding the Western Asia girls’ champion’s trophy WFM Oshini Devindya Gunawardena of Sri Lanka
Twelve-year-old WFM Oshini Devindya Gunawardena will be the next Womto an International Master in Sri Lanka, She is the youngest girl to achieve this title.
Oshini achieved a Woman Grandmaster norm for her gold medal finish with 7 points out of 9 rounds.
She got off to a good start, beating compatriot Jayasinge and Indian Ruhani Raj Asudani in the first two rounds. Oshini lost to WFM Galina Mikheeva of Russia in the third round. She recovered with two draws against Mariya Kholyavko of Kazakhstan and WFM Ahmed Wadifa of Bangladesh in the 5th and 6th rounds. Then Oshini won the last three rounds against Rathnayake of Sri Lanka, fifth seed WFM Gupta Shubha of India and top seed WFM Jain Sachi of India in the 9th and final round.
