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Nine year old Oshini Devindya Gunawardena, a student of Ferguson High School, Ratnapura in Sri Lanka, reached the finals of the FIDE Online Youth Chess World cup Finals after a nail biting finish at her tie breaking Armageddon game.

Oshini played very strongly in her first game of the Semi Finals with Russian Diana and won the game convincingly by sacrificing her Queen to get Checkmate. Starting the game with two Knights defense she sacrificed a pawn at the opening for center play but white managed to settle the position with an extra pawn after exchanging three minor pieces. But, strong Oshini found the mate with a Rook and a Bishop by sacrificing the Queen in time trouble situation with her Russian opponent.

In the second game which was played in the Ruy lopez opening she missed a move in the opening which resulted in her losing a minor piece. But, with her active play she managed to get the Bishop back. Still she had fewer  pawns and lost the endgame.

Having Black pieces at the tie break game, she outplayed her opponent totally to earn the berth for the World Championship Final Match tomorrow.

GM Di Li of China (left) and Amin Tabatabaei of Iran (right) share the lead with 5.5 points each after 6 rounds of the Shahid Captain Sheikh Kamal Invitational International Online Chess Tournament  organized by the Bangladesh Chess Federation At stake is a total of $10,000 in cash prizes sponsored by SAIF Powertec.

Di beat GMs Sundar Shyam of India, Vadislav Kovalev and drew with Abhianyu Puranik of India in Saturday’s rounds. Tabatabaei scored three straight wins agains GM Xu Yinlun of China and IM Guha Mitrabha and GM Sundar Shyam of India to keep pace. Here is the position after 34.Kh2 in the game Kovalev-Di. There followed 34… Rxg2+!

A strong field of 21 GMs, 13 IMs and 9 FMs in a total of 80 players are competing from 15 countries. Visit chess-results.com for round by round pairings and standings, and to download games. Here is the leader board:

Watch games live starting 15:00 Bangladesh time, broadcast by:

 https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/shahid-captain-sheikh-kamal-invitational-2021#live

 https://live.followchess.com/#!shahid-captain-sheikh-kamal-invitational-2021

 https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2021-shahid-captain-sheikh-kamal-open

 https://www.chess.com/events/2021-shahid-captain-sheikh-kamal-open

Follow us on @Asianchess and https://fb.watch/7EQw82EUkK/

Asian Chess Federation | Facebook

Sri Lanka’s Oshini Devindya Gunawardena of Pushpadana College advanced to the semi finals of the under 10 years girls category in the FIDE World Cadets convincingly by scoring 2 points out of two games. She had to play 2 games with the same player, Russian Ksenia Asachenko with a rating of 1317. She won both games in style to enter the semifinals directly. Oshini will meet another Russian, Diana Preobrazhenskaya in the Semifinals tomorrow.

Sri Lanka National Chess Champion Ranindu lost a hard fought match with Nikoloas Spyropoulos, strong FIDE Master with a rating of 2425 from Greece. Ranindu lost the first game, but came back strongly in the 2^nd game to tie the score. But, unfortunately, having white pieces in the Armageddon game he lost and ended his story in the event.

Armageddon game is a game played giving 5 minutes to White and 4 minutes to Black. But, White has to win the game. If the game is drawn, it is considered as a win for Black.

The FIDE Online Youth Chess World cup is conducted by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and organized by the Georgian Chess Federation this year. Nearly 2000 players from 105 countries participated in 10 categories of under 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 years Open and Girls events. The 1^st round consists of 9 round Swiss System events and the top 16 in each category are playing a knocked out event for the supremacy. All games are played in Tornelo Platform with the time control of 10 minutes+ 3 seconds a side in the 1^st round and 15 minutes + 5 seconds in the Final stage.

Filipinas Regidor, Claros bow out of FIDE World Cadets Chess

by Marlon Bernardino
MANILA, Philippines—Kaye Lalaine Regidor lost to American Woman Candidate Master Alice Lee,0.5-1.5, in their Girls Under-12 quarterfinals tussle on Saturday, August 28, 2021, to crash out of the FIDE World Cadets and Youth Rapid Chess Championships virtually held at Tornelo Platform.

The Santa Rosa City, Laguna resident Regidor, whose stint here is being supported by Arena Grandmaster Dr. Fred Paez, coach Tony Yu and Mayor Arlene Arcilla,  dropped the first game of their two-game regulation play in 45 moves of a Slav defense but fought hard in the second enjoyed positional edge in the Bishop and Pawn end game force draw by repetition of position in 60 moves of an English Opening.

In the Girls 14 and under, April Joy Claros lost to American International Master Ellen Wang, 0-2, ending the Philippine campaign in the online event organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE).

The Angeles City, Pampanga bet Claros, playing under the guidance of national coach GM Jayson Gonzales and Mr. Jimmy Reyes was beaten by Wang in the first game in 22 moves of an King’s Indian defense and in 44 moves of an Slav defense in the second.

GMs Vladislav Kovalev of Belarus, Sundar Shyam of India, Li Di of China and Abhimanyu Puranik of India share the lead with perfect 3 point slates after 3 rounds of the Shahid Captain Sheikh Kamal Invitational International online Chess Tournament which started 27 August 2021 on Tornelo.

Shahid Captain Sheikh Kamal was the eldest son of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and brother of Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, one of the organizers of the Great Liberation War, promoter of modern sports in Bangladesh and cultural figure in Bangladesh. His name is Sheikh Kamal and he was Captain of the Army. He was martyred on 15 August 1975. Shahid means Martyr. The event is being held on the occasion of his 72nd birthday in his name.

Dr. Benazir Ahmed BPM (Bar), president of Bangladesh Chess Federation, welcomed participants, Bangladesh players were in the hotel playing over the internet under the watchful eyes of Arbiters similar to hybrid chess. The tournament is a 9-round Swiss over the weekend of 27-29 August 2021.

A strong field of 21 GMs, 13 IMs and 9 FMs in a total of 80 players are competing from 15 countries as follows:

At stake is a total of $10,000 in cash prizes sponsored by SAIF Powertec.

Visit chess-results.com for round by round pairings and standings, and to download games. Here are leaders after round 3:

Watch games live starting 15:00 Bangladesh time, broadcast by:

 https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/shahid-captain-sheikh-kamal-invitational-2021#live

 https://live.followchess.com/#!shahid-captain-sheikh-kamal-invitational-2021

 https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2021-shahid-captain-sheikh-kamal-open

 https://www.chess.com/events/2021-shahid-captain-sheikh-kamal-open

Follow us on @Asianchess and https://fb.watch/7EQw82EUkK/

by Marlon Bernardino
MANILA, Philippines—Kaye Lalaine Regidor of Santa Rosa City, Laguna and April Joy Claros of Angeles City, Pampanga toppled their respective rivals early Friday, August 27, to barge into the quarterfinals of the FIDE World Cadets and Youth Rapid Chess Championships virtually held at Tornelo Platform.

Ranked 9th among 16 qualifiers, Regidor (Elo 1492),  playing under the gudiance of Arena Grandmaster Dr. Fred Paez and coach Tony Yu and supported by Mayor Arlene Arcillas, checkmated 8th seed Mariia Dolinskaya (Elo 1536) of Russia in the first game after 70 moves of an English Opening. Regidor, scored another checkmate win in the second game after 56 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined to advance into the next round in the Girls 12 and under.

Ranked 13th, Claros (Elo 1544) stunned fourth seed Machteld Van Foreest (Elo 2161) of the Nertherlands after 53 moves of an English Opening  in the Armageddon play. Claros, playing under the watch of Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales and Mr. Jimmy Reyes yielded the first game to Van Foreest after 30 moves of English Opening. She rebounded by winning the second after 50 moves of Caro-Kann defense, advance variation to force the tiebreaker in the Girls 14 and under.

14th seed Jersey Marticio (Elo 1544) of Cabuyao City, Laguna lost to third seed Woman FIDE Master Yana Zhapova (Elo 2196) of Russia after 53 moves of a Four Knights game in the Armageddon play and bowed out in the Girls 14 and under in the World Chess Federation (FIDE)-organized online tournament.

Meanwhile, Megan Althea Obrero Paragua, representing the United States of America and niece of Grandmaster Mark Callano Paragua fought hard against Emilie Alfano of France ended their 2 games into a fighting draw. In the tie breaker, Paragua, however checkmated Alfano after 72 moves of a Kings Pawn Game in the Armageddon play in the Girls 10 and under.

Alfano is the number 1 player of France and finished 3rd in the European girls under 10 chess championship.
Other Filipino casualties are Chester Neil Reyes of Rodriguez, Rizal (Open 16 and under), Lexie Grace Hernandez of Angeles City, Pampanga (Girls 16 and under), Mhage Gerriahlou Sebastian of Apayao (Girls 16 and under) and Wayne Ruiz of Santa Rosa City, Laguna (Open 14 and under).

Reyes lost both games to International Master Volodar Murzin of Russia, Hernandez drew her first game to Woman Candidate Master Ruiyang Yan of the United States but lost in the second game, Sebastian yielded to Woman Fide Master Amina Kairbekova of Kazakhstan in the Armageddon play while Ruiz dropped his 2 games to Bharath Subramaniyam H of India

Sri Lanka Players Qualify to Quarterfinals

IM Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan won the Asian Women’s Continental Online Chess Championship held 23-25 Augusut 2021 on Tornelo and became the Asian continental nominee to the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss this October in Riga, Latvia. Watch the closing ceremony on youtube (video by Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh).

Assaubayeva, 17, finished alone in first, undefeated with 7.5 points. WIM Ning Kaiyu of China won the silver medal with 7 points. Bronze medal went to WIM Turmunkh Munkhzul of Mongolia with the highest tie break among 5 players tied with 6.5 points each.

Nine WGMs, 8 IMs and 22 WIMs competed in the strong field of 74 players from 15 countries, namely Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, New Zealand, Oman, Philippines, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.

The tournament was a Swiss system of 9 rounds with time control of 25 minutes plus increment of 10 seconds per move. Players were monitored closely with front and side/panoramic cameras.

Games were broadcast live in:

https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2021-asian-womens-online-chess-championship

https://www.chess.com/events/2021-asian-womens-online-chess-championship

https://live.followchess.com/#!asian-online-chp-w-2021

https://live.chessbase.com/watch/Asian-Women-Online-Chess-Ch-2021/

Visit chess-results.com for round by round results, standings and to download games.

Here is tournament record of Assaubayeva

In the critical 6th round, Assaubayeva beat solo leader WIM Sakshi Chitlange of India and showed her tactical prowess with this exchange sacrifice 25.Rxe4!

by Marlon Bernardino
MANILA, Philippines—National Master (NM) Ivan Travis Cu topped the National Master Ronald Llavanes Arena competition (Individual Tournament) organized by Bicol Online Chess Players Team on Tuesday (August 24, 2021) held at lichess.org Platform.

Ivan, a Grade 7 student of Xavier School, San Juan City, finished with 22 points in the 1 hour and 40 minutes Arena competition applying the 3 minutes plus 2 seconds increment time control format.

Amatonding Sohaile Jr. and National Master (NM) Glennen Artuz both scored 20 points, but were ranked second and third, respectively, based on their total tie break points.

Ephraim Hechanova closely followed them at fourth place with 19 points.

Rommel Valdez (18 pts.), Karlo Enrico (17 pts.), Rene del Castillo (16 pts.), Marvid Zuniega (16 pts.), Renato Candidato Jr. (15 pts.) and Clutch King (15 pts.) place fifth to tenth, respectively.

It shall be recalled that last August 15 the 12 years old Ivan finished 7th out of 59 players (youngest player in the Top 10) in the Isaiah Daniel Datu Cup. He tallied 10 out of 16 (10 wins, 6 losses). Battling against majority higher ranked players and under time pressure, Ivan was able to maintain his concentration and focus, thus landing him a strong finish.

The Sri Lanka National Chess Team is participating in the FIDE Online World Chess Olympiad which starts on Friday, the 27^th of August 2021. Sri Lanka is at the level 3 according to the initial ranking and the level 4 was held in the last weekend. The winners of the level 4 are to compete in the level 3 teams in a round robin system 9 round event on 27^th, 28^th and 29^th of August to be held at the Tornelo Platform. The time control is 15 minutes + 5 seconds a move per side.

Sri Lanka will face 9 other teams namely Nepal, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Fiji, New Zealand, IPCA and Japan. The team consists of 2 Men, 2 Women, 1 under 20 Junior Boy and 1 under 20 Junior Girl with same number of reserves.

Sri Lanka Chess Team

Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage – The current Sri Lanka National Chess Champion. The first player to represent Sri Lanka at the FIDE Chess World Cup 2021. Has selected to the final round of the FIDE Online Youth chess World Cup 2021. He is still a schoolboy of Ananda College, Colombo. He represented Sri Lanka at FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2020.

Minul Sanjula Doluweera (FIDE Master) – Sri Lanka National Chess Champion 2017. He is the best player produced by the Royal College Colombo and studies now at the Medical Faculty of the University of Colombo. He represented Sri Lanka at the FIDE Chess Olympiad 2018 and the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2020.

Susal De Silva (FIDE Master) – The strongest youth Chess player in Sri Lanka at present. He placed 3^rd in the last Sri Lanka National Chess Championship and has qualified to the 2^nd round of the FIDE Online Youth Chess World cup 2021.

Dinushki Premanath (Women FIDE Master)- Won the Sri Lanka Women’s National Chess Championship twice in 2010 and 2018. She is one of the most experienced Women Chess Players in the country with participation of few Chess Olympiads.

Sachini Ranasinghe (Women International Master) – She is the 1^st player to achieve the Women International Master title and the only player to win the Asian Zonal Chess Championships in 2011. She is the 1^st and only Sri Lankan Chess Player to play in the FIDE Women Chess World Cup 2012. She has won the Sri Lanka Women’s National Chess Championships 4 times in 2009 and from 2011 to 2014 and has represented the country in many Chess Olympiads.

Sanudula Dahamadi – She is the most promising Girls Chess player in the country. She won a Silver Medal at the FIDE Queen’s Chess Festival recently. She won the Sri Lanka Women Grand Prix 2021 as well. Fourteen year old Dahamdi studies at Musaeus College, Colombo.

Isuru Alahakoon – The most experienced player who is from Sri Lanka Navy in the team. He won the Sri Lanka National Chess Championship 4 times from 2012 – 2014 and 2018. He has represented the country in many events including several FIDE Chess Olympiads.

Rasika Samaranayake – A new comer to the team. Played in the last National Chess Championship.

THD Tharushi Niklesha – One of the strongest Women Chess players in Sri Lanka. She has represented the country at the FIDE Chess Olympiad/ Online Chess Olympiad as well. She schools at Visakha Visyalaya, Colombo.

Sandeepani M Tharushi – She is a student at the Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo. She won the Silver Medal at the last National Chess Championship.

Ashvini Pavalachandran – She is a student from Wycherley International School. She was a member of the FIDE online Chess Olympiad 2020 as well.

CFSL has appointed Grandmaster Alexie Barasov as the Coach of the Team while Mr. Luxman Wijesuriya, the President – CFSL will work as the Team manager/ HOD for the event.

Sri Lanka has a strong team this year and we expect them to come to the top 3 among the 10 countries to advance to the Level II event to be held in next week.

Luxman Wijesuriya

Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan grabbed solo lead with 5.5 points after 6 rounds of the Asian Women’s Online Chess Championship on Tornelo. Nine WGMs, 8 IMs and 22 WIMs are competing in the strong field of 74 players from 15 countries. The winner shall be the Asian Continental nominee to the FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss this October in Riga, Latvia.

Watch games live in:

https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2021-asian-womens-online-chess-championship

https://www.chess.com/events/2021-asian-womens-online-chess-championship

https://live.followchess.com/#!asian-online-chp-w-2021

https://live.chessbase.com/watch/Asian-Women-Online-Chess-Ch-2021/

Visit chess-results.com for round by round results, standings and to download games.

Participating are players from Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, New Zealand, Oman, Philippines, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.

Games are strictly controlled by Zoom Arbiters with two cameras per player, webcam and side camera. Players share screen with Task Manager showing that only Zoom and Tornelo are open.

The leaders after six rounds are:

Three Sri Lankan Players in the Final stage

The National Chess Champion, CM Ranindu Liyanage of Ananda College, the Number 3 Susal De Silva of Nalanda College and Young Oshini Gunawardena (above right) of Pushpadana High School, Ratnapura have been included in the Final Stage of the World Youth Chess Championship 2021 under 18 Open, 16 Open and 10 Girls events respectively as a wild card entries.

Susal one of the strongest Chess players in the country had the bext performance among Sri Lankan Chess players at the event, 7 ½ points out of 10 games in the under 16 Open category event. Susal beat Ajili Rayen(Tunesia), Taulananda Anon(Thailand), Chidvilash Sai Surapaneni(India), Arjun Sidharth S(India), Balaji Aaravamudhan(England), Popov Konstantin(Russia), Flores Quillas Diego Saul Rodri(Peru) drew with Hriday Dharmesh Sheth(India) and Lost to Tsaruk Maksim(Belorussia) and Aaryan Varshney(India) to score 7 ½ points to ranked 15^th in his age group in the world.

Ranindu playing with the strongest Chess Players in the world managed to score 7 points out of 10 games while young Oshini also had a considerable performance of 7 out of 10 games. Ranindu beat Salima Praise (Malawi), Kachkachishvili Lasha (Georgia), Mordido Justine Diego (Philippines), Kanyamarala Tarun (Ireland),   Ayush Sharma (India), Ahmadzada Ahmad (Azerbaijan), drew with Kushagra Mohan (India), Anuj Shrivatri (India) and lost to International Master – Saksham Rautela (India), Grandmaster- Batsuren Dambasuren (Mongolia) on his way to 7 points.

Oshini beat El Harrak Maryam (Morocco) , Nihira Koul(India), Chinkulkitniwat Purichaya (Thailand), Nivedita V C (India), Yatee Kothari (India), Myagmar Tselmeg (Mongolia), drew with Aydogan Arya (Turkey), Paragua Megan Althea (USA) and lost to Aadhya Jain (India),Nguyen Mai Chi (Vietnam) to finish with 7 points.

The FIDE Online World Cup 2021 – Youth and Cadets conducted by the International Chess Federation is organized by the Georgian Chess Federation this year. The World Cup has 10 category events for under 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 years Open and Girls. The event is held online in the Tornelo platform from 1^st to 30^th August 2021 with 10 rounds per each category followed by 16 player knocked out stage. The event started with two categories, under 10 Open and under 18 Girls to have it from 1^st to 5^th having 2 games each day. Other categories also followed giving 5 days per two categories each sessions, one open and one Girls.

Sri Lanka fielded 32 players, the 1^st three winners of Sri Lanka Online Youth Chess Championships and the National Chess Champion, Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage(Ananda College) and the Sri Lanka Number 1 ranked in FIDE Rating, Harshana Thilakaratne of Maliyadeva College.

Standings – Sri Lankan Players