Sri
Lanka Junior National |
Yasas Kalana Kuruwitage of Royal College and Supeshala
Thilakawardena of Musaeus College dominated the 7 round Junior National
Chess Championship held from the 28 th to 31 st January 2011. The Chess
Federation organized this Under 20 Chess Championship held over 7 rounds,
which was held at Royal College and the Duplication Reception Hall.
Both tournaments were FIDE Rated. The prize giving was held after the
event.
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Yasas Kalana Kuruwitage |
WFM Supeshala Thilakwardena |
The Boys' section had 121 entrants on the first day
including 29 Internationally Rated players. The fifth seed Yasas Kalana
lead from the start and a win with the Black pieces over Udith Jayasundara
crowned a fine triumph for this Royalist. He finished with 6.5 points
out of the seven rounds with a solitary draw in the 06 th round to Vidyartha
College's KAPM Ariyawansa.
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Shehan Senevirathne from Ananda College with the
better tiebreak results bagged the silver and Chatura Rajapakse from
Dharmaraja College, Kandy finished with the bronze with both getting
6 points. Lahiru Munasinghe from Ananda College had to settle for the
4 th place after also finishing with 6 points.
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Shehan drew two games with the other two players
who tied with him while, Chatura was held to a draw in the fourth round
by a teammate, J. M. Weerasoriya and Lahiru dropped a half point to
Mike Francis in round 04. S. Harishman from Royal College finished 5
th with 5½ points. Several unrated players did exceptionally
well to finish ahead of the more established players in this event.
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The Girls section had 31 players including 10 International
Rated players. This section was highly competitive despite the absence
of several talented players. The number 3 seed and WFM Supeshala Thilakwardena
dominated the event from the start, overcoming the highest ranked player
Sachini Ranasinghe in round 4 and then holding the co-leader Irindu
Basnayake to a draw in round 06. In the last round she beat Manisha
Gunarathne with the black pieces to be outright first with 6.5 points
out of 7. Sachini Ranasinghe also from Musaeus College finished runners-up
after defeating Irindu Basnayake in the last round and reaching 6 points.
Irindu, from Girl's High School Kandy was joint leader until the very
before falling at the final hurdle. She finished with the bronze medal
after scoring 5.5 points. 5 players finished with 4.5 points to share
fourth to eighth places.
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By, Naditha Amarakoon |
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