Varuna Abeyratne of Ananda College won the Sri Lanka National (Novice Division) Chess Championship convincingly. He scored a total of 6 ½ points out of possible 7 games.

The Sri Lanka Novices Division Chess Championship was conducted by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka from 3rd to 6th February 2011 at Royal College, Colombo. A total of 230 players participated in this 7 round Swiss System tournament which is the primary event of the Sri Lanka National Chess Championships Cycle.

Varuna beat Miss BWMN Dilrukshi in the final game to win the title. He dropped the half a point in the 6th round with Randunu Chandimal and scored full points with all other opponents. Randunu Chandimal won the Silver medal with six points and Nadeesh Rathnayake of Royal College won the Bronze medal , also with six points according to the tie breaker.

Tharakabhanu De Alwis, Gihan Ranasinghe, HRVDS Ratnayake, EDS Chandula, KGMG Bandara, BWMN Dilrukshi and Minura Dikwella also scored 6 points each.

All those who scored more than 4 points in the Novices Division is promoted to the Major Division events to be held from 1st to 4th April 2011 in Colombo, Kandy, Kurunegala and Galle.