Minul Doluweera (above left), Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, the National Number 2 came to the lead with 3 points out of 3 games and Esha Pallie (above right) also got the lead in Women’s event after 3 rounds played on the first day on 23rd July 2021.
Minul beat Isuru Alahakoon and Chandana Wijekoon got a default point from IM Romesh Weerawardena to score 3 points out of 3 games. Esha Pallie of Visakha Vidyalaya beat Oneli Omaya Wilvalaarachi and Tharushi Niklesha and got a Draw from the National Chess Champion Nethmi Fernando to get 2 ½ points out of her 1st 3 games.
The National Chess Champion, Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage (photo above) of Ananda College, and Sri Lanka’s strongest Youth player, Susal De Silva (Nalanda College) are just a half a point behind the leader. Ranidu drew with Susal and beat Chandana Wijekoon and S Sivathanujan while Susal beat Chandana Wijekoon and Sasith Nipun Piyumantha. Sanidula Dahamdi (Musaeus College) is following Esha closely with a ½ a point behind scoring 2 out of 3 games with a win with the National Champion, Nethmi Fernando and two draws with strong WIM Sachini Ranasinghe and Tharushi Niklesha.
The Selection Trials for selecting the Sri Lanka National Chess Team for FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2021 are conducted by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka on the Rapid time control of 15 Minutes + 10 seconds per each move played is progressing on the Chess.com platform. The event is scheduled to be played on 23rd, 24th and 25th of July 2021 in two separate 9 rounds, round robin events for Open and Girls. The National Selection Committee of Chess in Sri Lanka has decided to play a Selection trial between the top 7 players of the Sri Lanka National Chess Championships, The Top 3 players of the Sri Lanka Rapid National Chess Championships and the top 2 FIDE Rated players of Sri Lanka both in Open and Women sections. The 4th round will be started on 24th at 17.00 hours.
The details can be fround from the following links:
http://chess-results.com/tnr570880.aspx?lan=1&art=2&fed=SRI
http://chess-results.com/tnr570879.aspx?lan=1&art=2