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A sixteen year School boy from Ananda College, Colombo, Ranindu Liyanage (photo above) was crowned national chess champion. Ranindu who was playing excellent chess from the beginning and concluded with a total of 10 ½ points out of possible thirteen. Young Ranindu suffered an unnecessary loss to CC Weerasinghe at the penultimate round gave only three draws to LMST De Silva, Lakshitha Randil and Gayantha Dissanayake and beat all other opponents to reach the top spot. He gained the national chess champion title, Rs. 100,000/= with the Trophy and the Gold medal.

Nethmi Fernando of Girls High School, receiving trophy above from Luxman Wijesuriya,  was crowned as Sri Lanka Women’s National Chess Champion scoring 10 points out of 13 games. She had an excellent start in the first half of the event scoring 6 ½ points out of 7 games and started the second half of the event with a loss of two games to Sandeepani Tharushi and Newanji Hewawasam. But she came back strongly to score 3 ½ out of 4 in the last four rounds. Nethmi is also 16 years old and played strong chess to gain the Women’s National Chess Champion title with Rs. 60,000/= in cash and the Gold Medal and the Trophy.

The Sri Lanka National abnd Women’s National Chess Championship 2020 were conducted by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka from 11^th to 21^st September 2020 was a great success. The Chess Federation had organized the event in a grand manner at Taj Samudra Hotel, Colombo, where His Excellency Holger Seubert, the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany was the Chief Guest. Mrs. Sandamali Aviruppola, Principal, Visakha Vidyalaya and Mr. Luxman Wijesuriya, president of Chess Federation, General Secretary of South Asian Chess Council and Commonwealth Chess Association and Vice President of Asian Chess Federation gave away awards with Mr. Deepthi Hewageegana, the Deputy President.

Minul Doluweera of Royal College Colombo also had a good event where he scored 10 points out of the total 13. Unfortunately, he lost to Ranidu in the Championship battle and had to satisfy with the Silver Medal. He played an exciting game with International Master, Romesh Weerawardena in the final Round where a position of famous mating net arrived after Minul’s 21^st move. 1.d4 d5 2. C4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 a6 5.e3 dxc4 6.Bxc4 b5 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.O-O c5 9. Dxc5 Bxc5 10.a3 Nbd7 11. B4 Bb6 12. Bb2 O-O 13.Qe2 Rc8 14.Rfd1 Qc7 15.Ng5 Nc5 16.Nce4 Nxe4 17. Bxe4 Bxe4 18.Nxe4 Nc4 19. Kh8 Nf6 20. Qc2 gxf6 21. Bxf6 Kg8 22.Qe4 h5 23.Qh4 1-0

Fourteen year, Susal De Silva of Nalanda College did not have much glory at the event but was satisfied with the Bronze Medal in the Nationals. But, being the youngest players out of all fourteen players he has a long way to go. He gained the Bronze Medal and Rs. 25,000/= in cash. YoungTheekshana Deuwan of Ananda College who is also 16 years performed to place fourth erning Rs. 15,000/ while International Master Romesh Weerawardane placed fifth to get Rs. 10,000/=

After losing her first three games of the event Sandeepani Tharushi of Devi Balika came back strongly to score 9 ½ points with Ashvini Pavalachandran of Wicherly International School. Sandeepani got the Silver Medal on the better tie breaker and Ashvini the silver but shred Rs 22,500/= each as cash awards. Tharushi Niklesha of Visakha Vidyalaya placed fourth with 9 points and Rs. 10,000/= in cash while Senior player, Women International Master Sachini Ranasinghe won the fifth place with Rs. 5,000/= in cash.

The Chess Federation Donated Rs. 250,000/= in cash to the Sri Lankan Chess Hero, Master Harshana Thilakarathne of Maliyadeva College who reach the 2400 in the FIDE Ranking and received the International Master Title from FIDE, the World Chess Federation. He reached this rating after 36 years of FIDE Master Harsha Aturupane reach to the level in 1986. Since the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka has invited all National Champions of Sri Lanka former stars such as Harsha and Harinlal Aturupane and Suneetha Wijesuriya were present at the Awards Ceremony. All games were lively webcasted.

Final Standings – Men

Rk.		Name	Club/City	Pts.
1	CM	Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan	Ananda College – Colombo 10	10,5
2	FM	Doluweera Minul Sanjula	Royal College – Colombo 07	10,0
3	FM	De Silva L M S T	Nalanda College – Colombo 10	8,0
4		Theekshana H G Denuwan	Ananda College – Colombo 10	8,0
5	IM	Weerawardane Romesh		7,5
6		Randil Lakshitha	Japura Chess Club	7,0
7		Dabarera G W D M	Maliyadeva College – Kurunegala	6,5
8	FM	Galappaththi Chinthaka Anuruddha	Kandy YMCA Chess Club	6,5
9		Amarasinghe A A C B	Japura Chess Club	5,5
10		Samaranayake K P R N	Pera Knights Chess Club	5,5
11		Bandara Dhanushka	Kandy YMCA Chess Club	5,0
12		Sivathanujan S	Kokuvil Hindu College	4,0
13		Weerasinghe C C	Maroons Chess Club	4,0
14		Dassanayake D M G S	St Sylvesters College – Kandy	3,0

 

Final Standings – Women

Rk.		Name	Club/City	Pts.
1		Fernando G W Nethmi L	Girls’ High School – Kandy	10,0
2		Sandeepani M Tharushi	Devi Balika Vidyalaya – Colombo 08	9,5
3		Pavalachandran Ashvini	Wycherley International School	9,5
4	WCM	Tharushi T H D Niklesha	Visakha Vidyalaya – Colombo	9,0
5	WIM	Ranasinghe S D	Nf3 Chess Club	8,5
6	WCM	Jayaweera Sayuni Gihansa	Dharmasoka College – Ambalangoda	7,5
7	WCM	Pallie Ehsha Mishela	Visakha Vidyalaya – Colombo	7,0
8		Wijesinghe W M M N	Girls’ High School – Kandy	7,0
9	WFM	Hewawasam H Y Nevanjee Dimanya	Visakha Vidyalaya – Colombo	6,5
10		Abeysinghe H M H Janandani	NSBM Green University	5,0
11	WCM	Wickramasinghe Minethma Lasandi	Sujatha Vidyalaya – Matara	3,5
12		Ranganath Tharuli Vihasna	Yoshida Shokanji International Scho	3,0
13		Koswatte C T	Sri Lanka Airport & Aviation	2,5
14		Mapa M M W H	Girls’ High School – Kandy	2,5

Luxman Wijesuriya

President – CFSL

General Secretary – South Asian Chess Council

General Secretary – Commonwealth Chess Association

Vice – President Asian chess Federation

Anandian school boy Ranindu Liyanage will be crowned the Sri Lanka National Champion for 2020 as he has stormed off to an unbeatable lead with one more day to spare in the championship. He started the most awaited battle of the tournament so far against former National Champion FM Minul Doluweera in the morning round where Minul surprisingly played a Petrov’s defense rather than his reliable Caro Kann but couldn’t manage to hold. Ranindu unleashed a dominant kingside attack and brought the game to a close in the 33rd move . In the evening round Ranindu confirmed his title by beating Dhanushka Bandara Yatigammana (Kandy YMCA) in a classical Ruylopez game, using the black pieces.
Other interesting match ups were between young Susal de Silva and former National Champion FM Anuruddha Chinthaka where Anuruddha with the white pieces opted for a Catalan set up and showed all his experience in a long positional game to grab a win. IM Romesh Weerawardane and Theekshana had to settle for a draw in an interesting knight vs bishop end game. The top 5 did not have any changes as each increased their tally by scoring wins. The final day will decide the top 5 places to guarantee a spot on the national team for the year 2020.

The women’s division kept the leaderboard quite interesting during the two rounds today as the battle for the top 5 was intense. Ehsha Pallie (Visakha Vidyalaya) who remained in the title battle fell off from the race as she suffered a loss in the morning round and was held off to a draw by Tharushi Niklesha (Visakha Vidyalaya). Meanwhile WIM Sachini Ranasinghe scored 1.5 points today to jump into the top 5, whilst a loss to Tharushi Sandeepani (photo above) n the 11th round means that defending champion Sayuni Jayaweera will not make the cut for a top 5 spot claiming a seat in the national team for 2020.

Whilst the chase group was getting held up by draws and losses, Nethmi (photo above) scored two wins where she destroyed young Tharuli Vihansa in just 23 moves using a Sicilian defense whilst Nethmi won a piece on the 17th move against W H Mapa to secure another win. As the last day of the championship is about to begin tomorrow, Nethmi needs a point to secure her title whilst it’s still an open battle to finish on the top 5.

The Asian Chess Federation shall organize the Asian Online Nations Cup (and Regions) Chess Team Championship 10-25 October 2020 on Chess.com.

The tournament will follow the traditional system of separate competitions for men’s and women’s teams. Each team is composed of 4 regular players, 1 reserve and captain.

Federations should confirm entry by 25 September and register by deadline of 4 October 2020.

The competition will start with 9-round Swiss System to select 8 qualifying teams. They will play knockout duels of 2 matches (white and black on top board) in the Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals.

Individual board awards will be given for best performance in the preliminaries. And special prizes shall be given to category winners among Level 2, 3, 4 and 5 federations. Download regulations.

Download Asian Online Nations Cup 2020 Regs

The South Asian Chess Council (SACC) shall organize the Joytu Sheikh Hasina International Online Chess Tournament, 24 to 26 September 2020 in Chess.com.  The tournament is sponsored by Canadian University Bangladesh and associated by Golden Sporting Club.

Download Joytu Sheikh Hasina International Online Chess Tournament 2020

Total cash prizes of 6,000 (Six Thousand) US dollars. 4,500 (Four Thousand Five Hundred) US dollars mail prize and 1,500 (One Thousand Five Thousand) US dollars for Bangladeshi players. Prize money will not be shared and one player will receive only one prize.

1st – 1200 US Dollars, 2nd – 800 US Dollars, 3rd – 500 US Dollars, 4th -300 US Dollars, 5th -200 US Dollars, 6th -200 US Dollars, 7th -200 US Dollars, 8th -200 US Dollars, 9th -200, 10th -100 US Dollars, 11th -100 US Dollars, 12th -100 US Dollars, 13th -100 US Dollars, 14th -100 US Dollars, 15th -100 US Dollars, 16th -100 US Dollars.

Special Prize for Bangladeshi players: 1st -700 US Dollars, 2nd – 500 US Dollars, 3rd -300 US Dollars.

Thursday 24 September 2020 Rounds 1-3

Inauguration 14:30 (Bangladesh Time, GMT +6)

1^st Round from 16:00 (Bangladesh Time, GMT +6)

2^nd Round from 17:00 (Bangladesh Time, GMT +6)

3^rd Round from 18:00 (Bangladesh Time, GMT +6)

Friday 25 September 2020 Rounds 4-6

4^th Round from 14:00 (Bangladesh Time, GMT +6)

5^th Round from 15:00 (Bangladesh Time, GMT +6)

6^th Round from 16:00 (Bangladesh Time, GMT +6)

Saturday 26 September 2020 Rounds 7-9

7^th Round from 14:00 (Bangladesh Time, GMT +6)

8^th Round from 15:00 (Bangladesh Time, GMT +6)

9^th Round from 16:00 (Bangladesh Time, GMT +6)

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.