Sanidula and Oshini Win the Bronze Medal in the Final Stage!
14 Year Old, KM Sanidula Dahamdi of Musaeus College won the 3rd place in Finals of the rating Category between 1500 – 1699 of the FIDE Queens Chess Festival 2021 conducted by the FIDE Women’s Commission. Sanidula Scored 8 1/2 points out of 11 games to reach the joint 2nd spot with Marry Magpili of Philippines but had to satisfy herself with the Bronze Medal due to lower tie breaking points. Analia Karen of Equador won the Championship with 9 points out of 11 while Marry Magpili of Philippines (photo below) won the 2nd place and Sanudula Dahamdi (Sri Lanka) won the 3rd place both with 8 ½ points.
Sanidula beat Maria Tsakona (Greece), Sofia Roepka (Uruguay), Nina Pert (England), Peninah Nakabo (Uganda), Elnaz Kaliakhmet (Kazakhstan), Sasha Mongeli (Kenya), Onkemetse Francis (Botswana), Aytaj Hydarova (Azerbaijan), drew with the Champion Marry Magpili (Philippines) and lost to Helan Monitiel (Paraguay), Analia Karen (Ecuador) in her 11 games to score 8 ½ points.
9 Year old Oshini Devundya Gunawardena (photo above) from Ferguson Girls School, Ratnapura also placed 2nd in the Rating category less than 1500 in the same event. Oshini Scored 7 ½ points and placed 3rd. Devi Harfesa of Indonesia won the Championship scoring strong 10 ½ points out of 11 (Only drew with Oshini) and Anusha Subramanian of England won the 2nd place with 8 ½ out of 11 games.
Oshini beat Chloe Badenhorst (South Africa), Mariclos Vasquez (El Salvador), Mae Rose (England), S Purnami (India), Ariette Guerrero (Ecuador), Shriyan Santosh (Malawi), Ibtihal Mohammed (Sudan), drew with Devi Herfesa (Indonesia) and lost to Camila Palacios (Ecuador), Vaia Tsekoura (Greece), Anusha Subramanian (England) score 7 ½ points out of 11 games. It is a considerable high performance considering the age of Oshini Gunawardena.
This is the first time in the History of Chess where any Sri Lankan player won a World event. Initially the organizers conducted 4 continental events for four categories of greater than 2100 ELO Rating, between 1800 – 2099 ELO Rating, between 1500 – 1799 ELO Rating and below 1500 ELO Rating only for the Women Chess Players in the World. They selected top three Chess players in each category to play in the round robin 11 round Final event among the selected 13 players from 4 continents. The time control was Blitz 3 minutes + 2 seconds per each move played. The event was held on 26th June 2021 at the Tornelo platform with all precautions against cheating.
A total of 11 girls from Sri Lanka participated in the qualifying events and Only Sanidula from below 1800 category and Oshini Gunawardena from 1500 category placed runner up in the Asian Qualifier and were selected to play in the finals.
WIM Sachini Ranasinghe (Nf3 Chess Club), Chanindi Mewna Attanayake (Devi Balika Vidyalaya), Oneli Vithanawasam (Lycoum International Wattala), GHS Senulya (Royal Primary College, Polonnaruwa), Piyumi Uthpala Amarathunga (JMC International, Kaluthara), Desandi Dhihansa Gamage (Sirimavo Bandayanayake Vidyalaya), Nemindi Linaya Ramanayake (Bandaranayake Central College, Veyangoda), Tenuli Dahamna Rathnayake (Ananda Balika Vidyalaya), HG Sasmi Sithumsa (Lycium International, Ratnapura) instead of above winners are participated in the event.