Susal and Niklesha crowned new Chess King and Queen
Susal de Silva and Niklesha Tharushi were crowned the King and the Queen respectively of the Open and Women’s categories at the National Chess Championship 2021.
Susal de Silva, 16, of Nalanda College won Open title of the Sri Lanka National Chess Championship after a heavy battle of four hours with his rival Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage of Ananda College,. Susal, with 10½ points, was leading by half-a-point ahead of Ranindu, who was at 10 points after the penultimate round. He managed to get the vital half of a point in the final round against Ranindu to claim his maiden National Chess Championship. Susal received a cash award of Rs. 100,000, in addition to the gold medal and the Open trophy.
Ranindu Dilshan Liyanage of Ananda College, also had a good event. He recorded only four draws and scored 11 points. He was awarded the silver Medal with a cash award of Rs. 50,000. Young Thumula Kiriella, also of Ananda College, did extremely well to secure the third position. He performed remarkably well and scored 8 points and won the bronze medal in addition to the cash award of Rs. 30,000.
Niklesha Tharushi, of Visakha Vidyalaya, won the Women’s National Championship convincingly, despite a poor start. She lost the first two games, but returned strongly to score 9 points out of 13 games. Niklesha beat Chethani Chamathka, Esha Pallie, Oshini Gunawardena, Sayumi Gamage, Nemindi Ramanayake, Oneli Vithanawasam, Esandi Newansa and Desandi Gamage. She drew with Janandani Abeysinghe and H.M.R.M.K. Rathnayake and lost three games to Dasuni Hansika Mendis, Chanindi Attanayake and Tharuli Ranganath. Niklesha received a cash award of Rs. 60,000, the gold medal and the Women’s trophy.
Young Esandi Newansa of Dharmasoka College also performed excellently to win the silver medal and a cash award of Rs. 30,000, after scoring 8½ points out of 13 games. She beat Dasuni Mendis in the penultimate round, which resulted in many changes after the last round. Dasuni’s poor score on the final day, in addition to losing two important games, put her out of contention for the main title. But she made it up to claim the bronze medal, scoring 8 points, while claiming a cash award of Rs. 20,000.
The selected top 14 players each participated in each category of the National Chess Championships 2021, which was held on round robin basis in 13 rounds. The Classical Chess format of 90 minutes with a increment of 30 seconds from move was followed as time control. The event was held at the Taj Samudra Hotel, Colombo and culminated with the awards ceremony under the patronage of Luxman Wijesuriya, the President of Chess Federation of
Sri Lanka and Vice President of Asian Chess Federation.
