Oneli Vithanawasam wins CFSL Online Under 18Yrs Girls Youth Rapid Chess Championship 2021!

Oneli Vithanawasam of Lyceum International School Wattala who was sharing the lead yesterday with 4 points out of 4 games, played exceptionally well to win the event by scoring 6 out of possible 7 games. She beat the other overnight leader Prasansa Premanath in the 5th round and drew with Esandi Newansa and Piyumi Uthpala in the last two rounds to finish the event with 6 points. Earlier she beat Hasandi Akuratiya, Miyuni Jayasinghe, Tenuli Dahamna Rathnayake and Nemindi Linaya Ramanayake in first 4 rounds yesterday. She received the Championship trophy and the Gold Medal.

Esandi Newansa of Dharmasoka Vidyalaya who tied at 5.5 points with Nemindi Linaya of Bandaranayake Central College, Veyangoda & Piyumi Uthpala of JMC International School, Kaluthara, had the better in the tie breaker to win the Silver medal. Esandi beat Sanuli Dulanya, D T Joachim, Chanindi Mewna, Desandhi Dhihansa, J A K N T Indrajith and drew with Oneli Vithanawasam and lost only to Prasansa Premanath. Nemindi Linaya Ramanayake had the better in the tie breaker against Piyumi Uthpala to win the Bronze medal.

CFSL Online Under 18 Girls Open Youth Rapid Chess Championship 2021 conducted by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka was successfully held on 8th and 9th of May 2021 via the Chess.com Platform. A total of 36 players from all over the country registered for the event which was conducted for 7 rounds with the time control of 15 minutes +10 seconds increment per each move played. Players were logged in to chess.com/live (not only www.chess.com) and played on laptops. Players were instructed to register their real name in their chess.com profile and upload their real photo. Age was considered by the 1st of January 2021.

The event was conducted with the highest precautions for anti-cheating regulations. Mobiles or other equipment were not allowed during the games. Only the player was allowed in his/her playing room. Player’s webcam, speaker, and microphone worked at all times. Also, players shared their screens with the organizers with task bar. All other programs except the Chess.com & the zoom were closed while playing the games. Players were not allowed to make noise and to avoid background noise. All the games were closely monitored. Engines were used for the analysis purpose and games were analyzed by www.chess.com. If any misconduct or violation found, the player to be removed from the event and disciplinary actions will be taken accordingly by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka. Players may be banned for two years from competitive chess in case of sever misconduct.

Written by Nipuna Chathuraka