The Chess Champs Academy Team led by Thilini Koswatte (in photo above) won the the maiden CFSL Online Women’s Rapid Teams Chess Cup 2021 conducted by the Chess Federat5ion of Sri Lanka convincingly.
At the grand finals, which was held in double rounds giving each layer a Black and a white, Chess Champs scored 3 match points while their rivals could score only one match point in first round.
(left to right) WIM Isha Sharma, Saumy Zainab, Prasansa Premanath, Dinushki Premanath
In the first round The Women Grand Master from Kazakhstan, Gulmira Dauletota and Tharushi Sandeepani scored the points for passed pawns while Women International Master from India Isha Sharma and Saumy Zainab scored points to Chess Champs Academy Team. But, in the 2nd round Thilini played a captains inning by outplaying strong Kazakhstan WGM Gulmira at a critical stage where their WIM Isdinushha Sharma had suffered a loss from Sri Lankan Women International Master Sachini Ranasinghe. Dinushki Premanath and Saumy Zainab, both former National Champions scored full points for their Team. So, the Chess Champs beat passed pawns 3-1 in the 2nd round to win the Championship.
A total of 275 players belonging to 55 teams from all over the country participated in the tournament and teams were categorized into three categories according to their players’ ratings. Then the Division C was played on 14th of January 2021 with the last 27 teams according to the Ranking. The three to Top teams in Div C advanced to the Division B to play with next ranked 23 teams on 16th January 2021. The top three Teams of Division B were advanced to play a Round robin event with top five Ranked Teams of 55 Teams on 17th of January 2021 as the Division A event.
The top four teams of the category A were paired according to the double knock out method as final stage today and from the beginning to the end it looked more interesting. Following are the Results
Passed Pawns CC consists of WIM Sachini Ranasinghe(Catain), WGM Gulmira Deltoteva, Dasuni Mendis, Pasindi Yathra Wijesuriya and Sandeepani M Tharushi, the Champions of Division A beat the Fischer Chess Club A team who became 4th in Div A with Nethmi Fernando (Catain), WIM Nelunika Methmani, Ashvini Pawalachandran, Niklesha Tharushi & Esha Pallie in the first Semi Finals with 3 match points to 1.
Chess Cham Academy team, 1st Runner up in Division A led by Thilini Koswatte with Dinushki Premanath, WIM Isha Sharma, Saumy Zainab & Prasansa Premanath beat the Fisher Chess Club A (3rd Place in Div A) team with Chamodya Yapabandara, WFM Manisha Gunaratne, Rumethma Tennakoon, WMMN Wijesingha & Chanethma Marasinghe 3 match points to 1 in 2nd Semifinals.
The games were played under high-anti-cheating rules and regulations according to FIDE standards on Chess.com platform. Also the games were commentated by FIDE Master Rajeendra Kalugampitiya and Dulan Edirisinghe, both former National Chess Champions through CFSL YouTube channel.
The Chess Federation of Sri Lanka is awarding a total prize fund of Rs. 40,000= and has organized a virtual Awards Ceremony on 25th January 2021.
In thy Consolation Finals Fisher Chess Club A beat Fischer Chess Club B in the first Round 3 -1 while Fischer Chess Club B beat Finals Fisher Chess Club A in the Round 2 2 ½ to 1 ½ . So the Fischer Chess Club A won the Bronze medal with highest Game Points.