SL men’s team off to flying start in Asian Online Chess
The opening weekend of the Asians Nations Online Cup 2020, organised by the Asian Chess Federation, concluded on October 10 (men’s) and 11 (women’s) via the Chess.com online platform.
The preliminary stage of the tournament was held in a 9-round Swiss system with a 15min+5sec time control from which eight teams from each section will qualify to the quarter-final.
The men’s team got off to a flying start at the event from 26th position out of a total of 38 teams, but at the end of three rounds, they had risen to a formidable ninth place with two wins and one loss.
In the first round, they managed to score half-a-point against a strong Singaporean team composed of one Grand Master and three International Masters where captain Minul Doluweera clinched a draw.
In the subsequent rounds, they came back strongly with a 4-0 rout of Hong Kong followed by an impressive 3-1 victory over Lebanon, a team with a higher average rating than Sri Lanka.
The women’s team got off to bad start with a 4-0 loss, albeit against the third seed team from Kazakhstan. But they too rapidly recovered to score a 4-0 win against Kuwait in the second round and managed to hold off a higher-ranked Bangladesh team for a 2-2 draw thanks to wins by captain W.I.M. Sachini Ranasinghe and Tharushi Sandeepani.
The two teams comprised this year’s brightest minds fresh from their illustrious performances in the recently concluded National Championship.
The men’s team features a young but talented contingent led by FIDE Master Minul Doluweera (Royal College) and comprising of International Master-elect Harshana Thilakarathne (Maliyadeva College), Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage (Ananda College), L.M.S.T. de Silva (Nalanda College) and Theekshana Denuwan (Ananda College).
The women’s team on the other hand has a mix of youth and experienced players, battling under the captaincy of Women’s International Master Sachini Ranasinghe and includes Nethmi Fernando (Girls High School, Kandy), Sandeepani Tharushi (Devi Balika Vidyalaya), Ashvini Pavalachandran (Wycherley International School) and T.H.D. Tharushi Niklesha (Visakha Vidyalaya).