Archives: News

Kavishka Gimhan Laksiri (in photo) won the CFSL Online Youth Rapid Chess Championship 2021 – Under 14 Yrs convincingly by scoring a total 8.5 points out of possible 9 games. He scored 8 out of 8 points in the first 8 rounds by scoring wins against Pansilu Karunarathne, Senith Gunarathne, Rashmitha Mettanmanda, Yemith Gunaratne, Oneli Withanawasam, CM IPTS Gunawardena, SMMP Kulathilake and WCM Sanindula Dahamdi and got a draw in the final round to win the Championship.

The CFSL Online Youth Rapid Chess Championship for under 14 years was held on 23^rd and 24^th of January 2021 at the Chess.com platform under the Swiss System with 9 rounds. The players below under 14 years by 1^stJanuary 2021 were eligible to participate. The time control was fifteen minutes with additional 10 seconds per each move played. A total of 295 players took part in the event.

The event was held with strict anti-cheating regulations where all players were observed from a zoom meeting when they are playing. The players are allowed to play with laptops & Desktops only.

Sanidula Dahamdi (in photo above) of Musaeus College performed very well to win the Silver medal scoring 8 points out of 9 games, just losing to the winner.  This is very rare that a girl perform to this level in an open event and her achievements is excellent to reach this far.

JM Daham Jayasundara (in photo above) also tied with Sanindula with 8 points at the end. But, he had to satisfy with the Bronze medal due to the less tie breaker points he had. The top three players will receive the Medals and certifiactes while the Champion will receive the trophy. The merit certificates are issued to the first 38 players. Await the other age group events!

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.

The Chess Federation of Sri Lanka is organizing the 1^st CFSL Online Women Rapid Team Chess Championship 2021 on 14^th, 16^th, 17^th and 24^th January 2020 at the Chess.com platform. Altogether 55 teams have registered in the event from all over the country. One WGM from Kazakhstan, three WIMS from India and two WIMs from Sri Lanka are in the battle. The Women National Chess Champion, Nethmi Fernando (photo above) and former Women National Chess Champions (l to r below) Sachini Ranasinghe, Saumi Zainab, Sayuni Gihansa Jayaweera & (l to r second row below) Dinushki Premanath, Dasuni Hansika Mendisare also in the battle.

The top ranked team is Ceylon Chathuranga Club consisting of Ganga Dehigama, Chandra Rathnayake, Thilini Koswatte, Chamindra De Silva and Indian WIM, Choleti Sahajasri.

The event will be held in 4 stages. The teams are ranked according to the FIDE rankings and the last 27 teams will play in the group C event which will be held on the 14^th of January 2020. Then the top three teams will advance to Division B to play with 23 teams included in Group B according to their rating. The Division B will be held on 16^th of January 2021. The top three teams of Division B will join the top 5 teams in ranking who are included in the Group A. The Division A event will be held on 17^th of January 2021 with these 8 teams as a round Robin event of 7 rounds. The top four teams of Group A event will meet in the semi finals and Finals to be played on 24^th January 2021.

The Chess Federation is awarding the Medals and Certificates to all Division winners and the top four teams will receive a cash award of Rs. 35,000/= with the trophies and Medals.

Sanjay Kapoor was elected president of the All India Chess Federation (AICF) while Bharat Singh Chauhan retained the secretary’s post in the polls held online on Monday January 4th. Kapoor, representing Uttar Pradesh Chess Association, defeated incumbent P R Venketrama Raja in a close contest. Kapoor received 33 votes as against 31 of Raja. Chauhan beat Ravindra Dongre 35-29. Naresh Sharma, belonging to the Chauhan faction, was elected as treasurer, beating Kishore Bandekar 34-30.

Left to right, President Sanjay Kapoor, Secretary Bharat Singh and Treasurer Naresh Sharma

The AICF has been split into two factions, one led by Raja and the other by Chauhan. The two have been at loggerheads for some time over various issues, including the conduct of the elections. Several legal battles were fought in the past one and a half year and there were instances when the president and the secretary suspended each other at different times.

After a long-drawn battle, a court-appointed observer Justice (retired) K Kannan presided over the election process held online because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first time since 2005 that the AICF elections saw a contest as the candidates were chosen unanimously in the last 15 years. Apart from the president, secretary and treasurer, six vice-presidents and six joint secretaries were also elected.

Kapoor said he will work for the chess players and lovers of the sport in the country. “We have created history. It is a victory for chess lovers. It is the beginning of a new era for chess players and chess lovers in the country,” Kapoor told a reporter. He said his vision was to develop the sport at the grass-root level and take it to the schools big-time.

Chauhan said it was a victory of chess and chess players as he promised to work for the betterment of the sport. “This is a victory of chess and chess players. We are going to work together…even the friends who have contested against us. We are one family. I appeal to them to work together for the sake of chess,” he said. “The new AICF will work with progressive ideas…no enmity, no hard feelings. We are going to talk about chess, we are going to work for chess,” Chauhan added.

The Sokian’s Chess Club from Ambalangoda won the CFSL Inaugural Online Rapid Chess Cup 2020 conducted by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka at Chess.com after a nail biting finish yesterday. The strongest Team, Lasker Chess Club with three National Team players and The Sokian’s with an International Master from Uzbekistan with Asian Gold Medalist Sasith Piyumantha entered the finals outscoring Marshal Chess Club and Anandian’s Chess Club respectively. The Final stage was to play two matches with alternating colours by the finalists.

The Sokian’s edged the Laskar CC 2 ½ to 1 ½ in the 1^st Final Match with the support of the Uzbekistan IM, Abdisalimov Abdimalik and Kasun Wimalasuriya scoring full points and Thisal Mankith getting a Draw in Sokian’s favour. The National Chess Champion Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage scored a full point for Laskar CC. The Finals started at 5.30 p.m. and the teams were having 1 ½ points each from a Draw beween Saith and Ranindu, Win from the IM to Sokians and LMST De Silva scoring a full point for Laskar CC. Needing a half a point to the championship for Sokian’s the marathon final game between Thisal Manjith Piyumantha Vs Akila Kavinda dragged 130 moves where Thisal managed to get the required draw.

(l to r) Thisal Manjith Piyumantha, Kasun Wimalasuriya, IM Abdisalimov, Sasity Naiupn

The Anandian’s Chess Club managed to win the Bronze Medal outplaying the Marshal Chess Club in the consolation Finals. The Indian IM Mohammad Nubairshah Sheikh scored two full points in both rounds against Athula Russel and MAAH Rathnayake respectively. Chathulanka Gamage beat DCJ Karunarathne while Lahiru Munasinghe got a Draw against KRVR Subasinghe in the 1^st round to score 2 ½ points to win the round. In the 2^nd round, Lahiru Munasinghe and Chathulanka Gamage got two draws with KRVR Subasinghe and DCJ Karunarathne to get a drawn match to win the 3^rd place. Only CMS Praneeth Kumar managed to win the both games for Marshal Chess Club.

The tournament was a great success  with the participation of 95 Teams, 475 players. The event was played in 5 Categories according to strength of the teams according to the ranking of the players where Sixth Stage was knockout finals. Each three teams which won the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place in a category was advanced to the higher category event. The event was held from 19th December 2020 to 3rd Jan 2021 and came to a grand Finish yesterday with a Rs 55,000/- Cash Awards.

The Chess Federation had arranged a live stream at CFSL You Tube Chanel with the commentaries by the strongest International Master Harshana Thilakarathne, Dulan Edirisinghe and Women International Master Sachini Ranasinghe. A virtual Awarding Ceremony was also arranged by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka with the participation of Mr. Casto Abundo, the Executive Director of Asian Chess Federation and Mr. Luxman Wijesuriya, the President of Chess Federation of Sri Lanka.

Champions

Sokians Chess Club

01.Piyumantha M Sasith Niupun

02.Abdisalimov Abdimalik

03.Wimalasuriya Kasun M

04.Piyumantha M Thisal Manjith

1^st Runner Up

Lasker Chess Club

1. Weerawardane Romesh

02.Liyanage Ranidu Dilshan

03.De Silva L M S T

04.Kavinda Akila

2^nd Runner up

Anandians Chess Club

01.Theekshana H G Denuwan

02.Mohammad Nubairshah Sheikh

03.Gamage Chathulanka

04.Munasinghe Lahiru

4^th Place

Marshall Chess Club

01.Rathnayaka M A A H

02.Russel M K A

03.Subasinghe K R V R

04.Karunarathne D C J

05.Kumara C M S Praneeth

IM Khalil Mousavi Seyed of Iran lived up to his top seeding as he won the Asian University Individual Chess Championship, finishing in first place alone with 7.5 points out of 9 rounds in the tournament organized by the Iran University Sports Federation under the auspices of the Asian University Sports Federation in cooperation with the Asian Chess Federation.

Mousavi, highest rated at 2522, is a 22 year old Sports Science student at Islamic Azad University. He beat Indian IM Al Muthaiah in the 7^th round then drew with Indonesians IM Theolifus Taher Yoseph and FM Abdul Haviz Arif in the last two rounds on the same day.

IM Lutfi Ali Muhammad of Indonesia scored 3 straight wins in the last 3 rounds against compatriot IM Novendra Priasmoro, IM Ayan Akhmetov of Kazakhstan and FM Enkhbaatar Enkhnar of Mongolia to finish in second place, alone with 7 points. Enkhnar won third place with 6.5 points, prevailing in the tie break over two other 6.5 pointers.

The champion Indonesian team, l to r, Lutfi, Priasmoro and Hafiz.

Indonesia and Iran finished in a tie with 19.5 game points each but the Indonesians prevailed in the tie break. Lutfi, 23, and IM Priasmoro, 21, Economics students at Gunadarma University, and FM Arif Abdul Hafiz, 21, an Industrial Technic student at Gunadarma, powered Indonesia to team victory with greater number of wins, 17 compared to Iran’s 16 wins. Gunadarma also won the 2019 Asian Universities Chess Championship organized by the Asian Chess Federation in Tagaytay City, Philippines.

Iran’s Mousavi, IM Mersad Khodashenas and Bardia Veisi finished team runner-up. Khodashenas, 22, is a Sports Science student at the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Bardia, 20, is a Soil Engineering student at the University of Tehran.

FM Ivan Mezentsev, 21, a Management student at International IT University, IM Ayan Akhmetov, 23, an Engineering and Technology student and FM Alen Rakhimzhan, 20, Finance Student, both at International Technology, won the team bronze for Kazakhstan with 17.5 game points.

Forty eight players from 12 countries competed in the 9-round Swiss system. The tournament is an individual championship with four players per country. Team score is calculated from the scores of the top three of each country. Teams from Indonesia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Oman, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand competed.

Visit chess-results.com for all standings and pgn files. Replay games on chessbomb.com.

Asian Chess Federation congratulates the Officials of the Asian Universities Chess Championship:

Technical Delegates: IA Casto Abundo of the Philippines and GM Xie Jun of China

Chief Arbiter IA Abdulrahim Mahdi of the UAE

Tournament Director IA Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh of Iran

Deputy Chief Arbiter IA Haroon or Rashid of Bangladesh

Fair Play Officer IA Luxman Wijesuriya of Sri Lanka

Pairings Committee: IA Amir Erfan Hashimi of Iran

Zoom Arbiters: IA M. Reza Lajevardizadeh, IA Hamidreza Jadidi, IA Kaveh Khalili, IA Khatere Azizi, IA Saman Armand, IA Arvin Abrishami, IA Fatemeh Afshar, IA Khadijeh Sharif Nataj, FA Fatemeh Sarfaraz Shokoohi