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Games and Amusements Board (GAB) Chairman Abraham “Baham” Mitra will lead the introductory press conference of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) on 17 September via Google meet. The Games and Amusement Board is the government body overseeing professional sports such as pro boxing and pro basketball. Visit GAB Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/GamesandAmusementsBoard/

Joining the GAB Chairman are PCAP founding commissioner, Atty. Paul Elauria, and other league officials.

Grandmaster Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr. believes more top players will be discovered from the grassroots level with the advent of the country’s first-ever professional chess league.

Antonio, a 13-time national champion, is among the invited speakers in the launching of the league.

“This will inspire kids to play chess like the way the PBA inspired kids to play basketball,” Antonio said (below, right). “It will be another motivation for them to get better and aim higher.”

Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre (above left), WIM Bernadete Galas and NM Marlon Bernardino are also invited to say their piece.

A brainchild of Elauria, the league aims to provide a new platform for Filipino chess players and give them a steady source of income.

“This is a start of a new era in chess. We want to elevate the status of our chess players and make them level with other professional athletes,” said Elauria.

Players need to apply for a GAB license to become eligible to play. All GAB-licensed players will be included in the PCAP Draft. The order of the draft will be determined by drawing of lots.

PCAP will be composed of approximately 32 Local Government Unit-based but privately-owned chess teams with a minimum of eight and maximum of 10 players under contract.

Each team will field six regular players composed of two rated players, one female, one senior and two homegrown players.

Players will get standard contract with minimum and maximum salaries based on salary caps agreed by all the teams.

The participating teams will be divided into two conferences: Northern Conference for Luzon-based teams and Southern Conference for Visayas- and Mindanao-based teams.

Already confirming their participation are the Baguio Lion Kings, Bataan Marching Heroes, Bulacan Bloody Bishops, Cagayan Valley Kings, Makati Red Gambits, Manila Noble Knights, Mindoro Golden Tamaraws, Palawan Beach Masters, San Juan City, Pampanga, Pasay, Subic Knightmares and Tarlac Top Guns. Also interested to join are ARMM, Batangas, Bohol, Cavite, Cebu, Cotabato, Davao, General Santos, Ilocos, Iloilo, Laguna, Leyte, Misamis, Negros, Pangasinan, Quezon, Rizal, Surigao and Zamboanga.

-Marlon Bernardino-

CM Ranindu Liyanage of Ananda College (left photo) and Nethmi Fernando of Girls High School – Kandy (right) top the tables at the end of the 1st half of the National Chess Championships held at the Sri Lanka Chess Federation Headquarters in Colombo. The tournaments are held according to a round-robin system with 14 players battling out at each Men’s and Women’s category to be crowned as National Chess Champion. Amidst the prevailing situation, the Chess Federation has successfully been able to conduct the topmost tournament in the Sri Lankan Chess Calendar, abiding all health and safety regulations. The Chess Federation of Sri Lanka will offer Rs. 320,000/= cash awards with other attractive prizes for the event and the National Champion will receive Rs. 100,000/=

The Men’s section ended the week with the three top-seeded players finishing on the top of the tables but as history suggests the second half of the tournament always brings a few surprises.

The tournament started off on Friday with the top two seeded players Susal de Silva (photo above) of Nalanda College and Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage facing off against the two veteran Sri Lankan players IM Romesh Weerawardane of Fischer CC and FM Anuruddha Chinthaka of Kandy YMCA where the two youngsters came on top scoring wins to kick start their battle for the title. Ranindu then stormed off to the lead after the 5th round victory over Maheesha Dabarera of Maliyadeva College whilst Susal and FM Minul Doluweera of Royal College (photo below) had to suffer defeats on the way. At the end of the first week, Ranindu leads the pack with 6 points with Minul (5 points) and Susal (4.5 points) on his tail.

There were a few interesting mid-table performances as well, notably from the new attacking player from Jaffna S Sivathanujan of Grand Prix Chess Club who went on to upset a few experienced players by scoring strong wins. He is tied at 6th place with Maheesha Dabarera, Theekshana Denuwan of Ananda College and Rasika Samaranayaka of University of Peradeniya whilst the veterans Anuruddha and Romesh sit 4th and 5th respectively.

In the women’s section Nethmi Fernando of Girls High School – Kandy stormed off to a massive lead by the end of the week where she has already played against the next two players chasing her for the title as well as the reigning National Champion.

It was simply a dominant performance where only Ehsha Pallie (photo above) of Visakha Vidyalaya could hold her to a draw in the opening week. Ashvini Pavalachandran of Wycherley International (photo below) who is leading the chase sits 1.5 points behind Nethmi whilst two Visakians Ehsha Pallie and WFM Nevanjee Hewawasam are 2 points behind.

Defending Champion Sayuni Gihansa Jayaweera of Dharmasoka College has had a slow start in the tournament and sits in the bottom half of the table whilst former National Women’s Champion, WIM Sachini Ranasinghe of NF3 CC also had a slow start in the tournament but later caught up the pace and is poised at equal 5th place and may yet pose a threat to the title battle if she has a strong second half. The rest of the pack placed equal 5th includes Hashara Abeysinghe of NSBM, Tharushi Sandeepani of Devi Balika Vidyalaya and Tharushi Niklesha of Visakha Vidyalaya.

The next set of games will start off on the 19th and continue on 20^th & 21^st  September 2020 followed by the Awards Ceremony. The Federation has also arranged facilities for all games to be shown live in www.livechesscloud.com and the results on www.chess-results.com (Sri Lankan Page). The live Games links:

Sri Lanka Nationals (Sri Lanka National Chess Championship – 2020)

Link https://view.livechesscloud.com#a7528ada-5d01-4b98-9a5d-8e2d35343957

Women’s National (Sri Lanka Women’s National Chess Championship – 2020)

Link https://view.livechesscloud.com#e04d94eb-2461-43ef-a874-00fa9a5ef721

-Written by Minura Munasinghe

Second seed Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage (photo above) of Ananda College grabbed the lead after 4 rounds of the Sri Lanka National Chess Championships. He  held top seed Susal de Silva to draw in a double rook ending using a French defense and then went on to win against Maheesha Dabarera (photo below) of Maliyadeva College who was leading the championship at the start of round 5. Maheesha opted for the Sicilian Kan variation but Ranindu used a sacrificial exchange in the middle game to gain an attacking advantage which brought him to the top of the points table.

Earlier in the day, two former National Chess Champions Minul Doluweera and GC Anuruddha faced off against each other in a Caro-Kann set up. A blunder by Minul gave the veteran Anuruddha a comprehensive win on the 26th move of the game. The evening round gave Anuruddha another favorable result in a match up against Dhanushka Bandara from his club Kandy YMCA where he made a ferocious king side attack in the early stages of the game to have one of his pawns in the 7th rank of the opponent by the 15th move. While Minul was held off for a draw by Theekshana Denuwan (Ananda College) using a Semi Slav set up. Further in the mid table battles, Buddika Amarasinghe from Jpura Chess Club had a strong finish to the week by scoring 2 wins against Rasika Samaranayaka from Peradeniya University and S Sivathanujan from Grand Prix Chess Club by winning with and against the Sicilian defense. While wins were scored today by IM Romesh Weerawardane and Maheesha Dabare to move them up on the standings.
At the end of the 5th round Ranindu leads the championship by one full point while Minul and Maheesha are stacked behind him to round off the top 3 according to points.
Full results can be viewed via chess-results.com using the below link

http://chess-results.com/tnr534390.aspx?lan=1&art=2&flag=30

The start of day 3 for the senior contingent of the Women’s Chess Nationals was not according to plan as reigning champion Sayuni Gihansa faced defeat against the unbeaten Nethmi Fernando (photo a above) from Girls High School-Kandy whereas Ashvini Pavalachandran defeated the strong WIM Sachini Ranasinghe and young Ehsha Pallie won against the experienced Thilini Koswatte. The 4th round did not see any drawn results while Nethmi Fernando finished with a one-point lead after round 4 with Hashara and Ehsha at 3 points.
In the 5th round Nethmi again kept her unbeaten streak in tact by winning against WCM Lasandi Wickramsinghe to finish the day at the top of the table. The chasing group lead by Ehsha and Hashara also scored full points against their opponents to keep the title battle open when both of them will face off against Nethmi in the following 2 rounds. Sachini came good against Niklesha to score a vital point in an effort to push herself towards the upper half of the table while defending champion Sayuni had to settle for a draw against the young Ashvini who was 4th in the ranking table after the end of the 5th round.
Full results can be viewed via chess-results.com using the below link

http://chess-results.com/tnr534389.aspx?lan=1&art=2&flag=30

The 6th round of the round robin tournament will commence at 9.00 am on the 14th of September, Monday.The Chess Federation will offer Rs. 320,000/= cash awards with other attractive prizes for the event and National Champion will receive Rs. 100,000/=.

Live Games can be viewed from the below link:

Live games can be seen in :

Sri Lanka Nationals (Sri Lanka National Chess Championship – 2020)
Link https://view.livechesscloud.com/…

Women’s National (Sri Lanka Women’s National Chess Championship – 2020)
Link https://view.livechesscloud.com/…

– Written by Minura Munasinghe

The second day of the National/Women’s National Chess Championship organized by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka concluded with exciting results. The second round started at 9 a.m. 12th September, while the third at 3.30 p.m. in both men and women categories. There was huge enthusiasm among all the players to get themselves awarded as the national chess champion/ women’s champion. The players were paired under the round-robin method.
In the morning round, there were lots of turnarounds in both categories. In the men’s category, young master Dabarera was able to gain a full point against Fide Master L M S T De Silva who won the first round against IM Romesh Weerawardana. Also, in the women’s category, C T Koswatte who performed significantly well in National B, was able to draw the game against the current women’s national champion, WCM Sayuni Gihana. A game which took high focus was between Wijesinghe W M M N and four times national champion WIM Sachini Ranasinghe, where Wijesinghe managed to score a full point.
The third round also showed some challenging games. In the men’s category, young master Dabarera was able to gain half a point against IM Romesh Weerawardane. Meanwhile, Thanu Siva was able to draw the game against FM Anuruddha Chinthaka. Also in the women’s category, Nethmi Fernando was able to dominate the game over WIM Sachini Ranasinghe.

Marking 10 years since its founding, the Philippine Academy for Chess Excellence (PACE) will conduct the FIDE Trainers Seminar for East Asia and Oceania 25-27 September 2020 online via Zoom. Download East Asia & Oceania FIDE Trainer Online Seminar Prospectus and East Asia & Oceania Participant Registration Form.

FIDE Senior Trainers Grandmasters Eugene Torre (lecturing below) and Jayson Gonzales spearheaded the establishment in 2010 of the Philippine Academy for Chess Excellence (PACE) in an effort to give budding players a venue where they can further hone their skills.

The Philippine Academy for Chess Excellence (PACE) is the only chess academy in the Philippines recognized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) as the Regional Chess Center in ASEAN. It offers various training opportunities through face-to-face or online teaching, conducting and organizing chess events and activities.

This 2020 summer alone there were more than 50 aspiring students who attended the chess clinics.

This time of pandemic, PACE organized chess lectures lessons via online using Zoom platform, every two weeks thru AFPI beginners and Intermediate chess clinics wherein the registration is free. Graduates advance to the PACE Master class courses with registration fee.

It is also the training venue of Philippine National Team and local schools and universities from the Philippines.

Chess Trainers and Masters were invited to give lectures such as GM Eugene Torre (Asia’s 1st Grandmaster), WGM Janelle Mae Frayna (Philippines 1st Woman Grandmaster), WFM Michelle Yaon , WNM Jemima Valdez, IM Paulo Bersamina and IM Jerad Docena.

Some notable students of PACE who attained their chess titles:

* Woman Grand Master
– Janelle Mae Frayna (Philippines’ 1st WGM)

* International Masters
– IM Richelieu Salcedo III
– IM John Marvin Miciano
– IM Paulo Bersamina
– IM Jerad Docena
– IM-Elect Dale Bernardo

* Woman International Masters
– WIM Shania Mae Mendoza
– WIM-Elect Venice Vicente

* FIDE Masters
– FM John Merill Jacutina
– FM Jeth Romy Morado

* Woman FIDE Masters
– WFM Michelle Yaon
– WFM-Elect Ruth Joy Vinuya

* National Masters
– NM Rhenzi Kyle Sevillano
– NM Darry Bernardo

* Woman National Masters
– WNM Jedara Docena
– WNM Rizalyn Jasmine Tejada
– WNM Jemima Valdez

PACE also organized prestigious tournaments as venue host of National Age Group Chess Championships, National Youth Chess Championships, PSC-NCFP Qualifying Chess Championships, SEA Games Qualifying and Grand Finals event, National Chess Championships Qualifying and Grand Finals and Battle of the Grandmasters. Also, other chess activities such as Simultaneous games, try-outs and team matches via over the board or online platform.

PACE raised the Philippine Flag in World Chess Tournaments by winning 1st Runner-up in the recently concluded 2020 Inter-Academy International Rapid Chess Team Championships last June 13-15, 2020.

The aim and objective of PACE is to provide chess education and produce young titled players all over the Philippines and other countries as well. In addition, to inspire and mold good character with optimistic view of life.

Philippine Academy for Chess Excellence (PACE) is located at 56 Mindanao Avenue , Project 6, Quezon City, 1100, Philippines.

Sri Lanka National/ Women’s National Chess Championship commenced 11th Sep 2020 in grand style at CFSL headquarters, Nugegoda. The most prestigious National Chess Championships were started with a small Opening Ceremony under the Patronage of Mr. Luxman Wijesuriya (photo above), the newly elected President of CFSL. Secretary-General, Mr. Malith Akalanka, Hony. Treasurer -Mr. Erosh Jayasinghe, Vice President – Mr. Dharshana Hewawasam and Executive Committee member- Mrs. Buddhini Wackista-aratchie were also present.

The top 14 players in Sri Lanka in both categories met each other for a challenging battle which will continue for 13 rounds in Round-Robin method.

The most awaited event of CFSL chess calendar for 2020 was started in search of the National Chess Champion/National Women’s Chess Champion 2020 and the first five players will be selected to the National chess teams. The Chess Federation has offered Rs. 320,000/= cash awards with other attractive prizes for the event with National Champion receiving Rs. 100,000/=. In both categories 1st round was started at 4.00 p.m. 

You may recall the old Maldives Chess Federation which was inactive for many years and did not have any FIDE rated tournament. A group of Maldivians complained to the Ministry of Sports which ordered fair elections last year for the reorganized Maldives Chess Association. Hussain Shiyan was elected president, shown above left with Asian Chess Federation president Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifah Al Nahyan. With the support of the Asian Chess Federation and other sponsors, the Maldives Chess Association has achieved phenomenal growth.

As part of the Asian Chess Federation’s drive to follow up on the programs of development of the game in various Asian countries under the precautionary measures of the pandemic Covid 19, in accordance with the directives of Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa bin Shakbut Al Nahyan, President of the Asian Game Federation, Hisham Ali Al-Taher, Secretary General of the Asian Chess Federation, held a Zoom meeting with the Maldives Chess Association in the presence of Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh, Treasurer of the Asian Chess Federation. Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa bin Shakhbut Al Nahyan, President of the Asian Chess Federation, has directed towards providing appropriate support in recognition of the outstanding activity of the Maldives Chess Association.

Shiyan narrated how he organized the following Executive team:

They focused on development of chess as a sport in Maldives.

They introduced the following local tournaments in Maldives • Tournaments for Kids and Youth • Tournaments for Adults and Professionals Chess players • Tournaments for cooperate organization • Support member club to organize tournaments • Have FIDE rated tournaments in Maldives

They nurtured Arbiters and Chess Trainers to develop chess in Maldives • Organize Arbiter program to certifies chess arbiter • Organize Trainers program in Maldives

They coordinated with the Ministry of Youth and Sports to get a dedicated hall for Chess Development.

• DGT Boards was introduced.
• Total of 20 DGT boards was sponsored by Male’ Water and Sewerage Company
• With this had taken chess tournaments at a different level, where spectators were able to enjoy live chess tournaments .
• One of the greatest achievements
• Male’ Water and Sewerage Company sponsored 15 DGT Boards to Maldives Chess Association.
• Development program also was conducted with collaboration registered club.
• Tournaments were conduct in the regionals
• Cooperate Office inter office tournaments
• 1st street chess championship tournament was organized support by MCA conducted by “CLUB CHESS MATES”

Sanidula Dahamdi of Musaeus College won the Crown of the Inaugural Sri Lanka Youth Girls Chess Grand Prix 2020 convincingly at the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka yesterday. In the grand finals, she scored 1 ½ points to ½ against Chanethma Marasinghe of Girls High School Kandy. In the 1st game Sanidula won with white pieces and was fortunate to face the center counter defense where she got positive play in the Queens side. She just needed a draw in the 2nd round with black pieces where she managed to get it in only 25 moves.

Dahamdi (in action above) was awarded the Inaugural Youth Girls Grand Prix Champion title, Trophy, Medal and Rs. 20,000/= in cash. Chanethma (photo below) had to be satisfied with the Silver Medal and a cash award of Rs. 10,000/=.

Esha Pallie of Visakha Vidyalaya (in photo below) beat Oneli Omaya Wilvalaarachchi of Gothami Balika Vidyalaya in the consolation finals to win the Bronze Medal with Rs. 6,000/= while Oneli was 4th with a cash award of Rs. 4,000/=

In the semifinals, Sanidula beat Esha Pallie in the tie break Rapid Chess games 2-0 on Saturday after tying the points 1-1 in the semifinals. Chanethma beat Oneli Omaya Wilvalaarachchi (in photo below) 1½ – ½ to qualify for the finals.

The Inaugural Sri Lanka Youth Girls Chess Grand Prix 2020 conducted by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka with a Rs. 40,000/= prize fund was started on Saturday the 29th of August 2020 with total 24 top youth Girls Chess players in under 14 category. The event is in progress till 6th of September at the CFSL Hq, Gangodawila, Nugegoda.

The event is conducted in a new format where the 24 players are divided to two groups with equal strength and two leagues are played with 11 games. Then the top two players in each group will play a knocked out event, Semifinals (A-Winner X Vs Runner up Y & B-Winner Y Vs Runner up X ) and the Consolation finals and the Finals to find the winners. Two games each as Black and white is given to each player in the knocked out stage and if there is a tie two Rapid Chess Games will be played giving 15 Minutes + 10 seconds. If still a tie Two Blitz Chess Games are given with 3 minutes + 2 seconds and still 1-1, a sudden death game is played giving extra minute to white and Black wins even the game is drawn.

Sanidula Dahamdi of Musaeus College won the Oneli Omaya Wilvalaarachchi of Gothami Balika Vidyalaya and Esha Michela Pallie of Visakha Vidyalaya won the Group X and Group Y Round Robin league Championships of the Sri Lanka National Youth Girls Chess Championships 2020. Oneli Omaya tied with Sanidula Dahamdi of Musaeus College with 10 points each and won the 1st place with better tie breaker. Esha Pallie was outstanding to win all games in her group to score 11 points out of 11 games.

Sanidula Dahamdi was leading from the beginning but lost to Oneli in the 5th round which resulted her to satisfy with the Silver Medal in Group X and Devindya Oshini Gunawardena(Furguson High School, Rathnapura) placed 3rd with 7 ½ points. Chanethma Marasinghe of Girls High School placed 2nd in the Group Y with 9 points out of possible 11 games. Chanindi Mewna Attanayake (Devi Balika Vidyalaya) after tying with Tharuli Ranganath (Yoshida International School) with 6 ½ points in third place won the Bronze Medal on the better tie breaker.

Mr Luxman Wijesuriya, the newly elected president of the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka was the chief guest while CFSL vice President, Thushan Wickramarachchi & Secretary General, Mr. Malith Akalanka gave away the awards.

Dialogue wins the team Championship Praneeth Kumar the top

Dialogue Asiata team became the Champion at the Sri Lanka Mercantile/ Government Service Chess Championship 2020 conducted by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka from 29^th August to 1^st September 2020 at SATHARA Hall, Maharagama on the tie breaker after tying with the Sri Lanka Army Team with a total of 14 points.

Dialogue Team led by of Ayodhya Liyanagedara a former Sri Lanka Women player with Massoran Rameez and HG Sahan Sachintha fought very strongly all scoring 4 ½ points each with the support of their 4^th players BVRMT Jayarathne (4 ½ points) to win the title. Sri Lanka Army with Dimuthu Abeywardena (5 ½ points), Tharanga TA (4 ½ points) and INT Dassanayake (4 points)also showed their strength to tie with winner with 14 points but, their number 4 had just a half a point behind to the winners number 4 which decided the Championship. Virtusateam was third with Akila Rathnayake, Ranura Dissanayake and Deepthi Deepamal scoring 12 points.

CMS Praneeth Kumara of 99X Technology team came to the supremacy by winning the individual Championship with 6 ½ points out of possible.

He led the event from the start and beat Dimuthu Abeywardena of Sri Lanka Army to achieve the Sri Lanka Mercantile/ Government Service Chess Champion 2020 title with the trophy, Gold Medal and Rs 40,000/- Cash Award. He just gave a draw to Akila Rathnayake of Virtusa in the 6^th round and beat all other 6 players, ThanushkaGamage, Hashini Himasha Perera, Nalaka Guruge, Ranura Dissanayake, Niranga Kandearachchi and Dimuthu in the final Game.

Akila Rathnayake of Virtusa won the Silver Medal with Rs 25,000/= again being unbeaten. He had two draws with the winner and Dimuthu Abeywardena and won all other games to score six points. Four players Dimuthu Abeywardena(SL Army), Niranga Kandearachchi(SL Customs), ILK Tennakoon(SL Customs) and Tharaka Alahakoon (Weligama Pradeshiya Sabha) tied for the third place with 5 ½ points and Dimuthu won the Bronze Medal with the better tie breaker.

Sri Lanka Mercantile/ Government Service Chess Championship 2020 was conducted by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka from 29^th August to 1^st September 2020 with Rs 225,000/= cash fund. The event was 7 round Swiss System event where the result of best three players counted for the team Chess Championship. Though the participation was little less due to the prohibition of participation in sports by some of the leading companies eighty six players from 25 organizations took part I the event. The top five games were lively broadcasted in all rounds.

Nipuna Ekanayake (Road Passenger Transport Authority) won the rating category of under 1600 and RMNK Rathnayake of SL Army won the unrated category.

The newly elected CFSL resident, Deputy President and other officials were distributed awards to the award winners at the awards ceremony conducted just after the event.