Harshana Thilakaratne tied For the 1st place in the World Youth Chess Championships 2011

Young Harshana Thilakaratne from Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala tied for the 1st place in the World Youth Chess Championships Under 8 Open Event scoring 7.5 points out of 9 Games. Harshana who was a very talented young Chess player in the country shared the Equal First place with Liang Awondar (USA), Ram Aravind (INDIA) and Yu Kaifeng (China).

A total of 85 players from 41 Countries participated in the Under 8 Open Event while a total of 1120 players from 80 Countries participated in the entire World Youth Chess Championships which had 12 categories as, Under 8, 10, 12, 154, 16 and 18 years Open and Girls.His total team card is as given below.

The National Youth Chess team of 7 players, Harshana Thilakaratne, Binudi Abeygunawardena Yapa (Visaka Vidyalaya, Under 10 Girls) 4 ½ points out of 9 Games, S Anojman (Royal College, Under 10 Open) 4 ½ points out of 9 Games , TTMDCT Tennakoon (Bandaranayake Central College, Gampaha , Under 12 Open) 4 ½ points out of 9 Games, UL Samarakone (Royal College, Under 18 Open) 3 points out of 9 Games, Lumbini Ambanwela & Anjana Perera (Both from Mahamaya College and Under 18 Girls) 3 ½ points out of 9 Games with Mr. Luxman Wijesuriya as the coach of the team participated from 17th to 28th of November in the World Youth Chess Championships held in Caldas Novas, Brazil.

Harshana who is just 8 years was placed 4th in the last year World Schools Chess Championships and have won many victories during his 2 1/2 years Chess Career. On bee half of the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka, we wish him all the best for him and hope he will make the 1st Grandmaster of Sri Lanka.

Photo and report By , Luxman Wijesuriya, Chess Federation of Sri Lanka