By Ishani Upatharitha

Sanidula Dahamdi of Musaeus College, Colombo won the second place in the Asian Qualifier of the rating category between 1500-1799 in the Queen’s Chess Festival, conducted by the FIDE Women’s Commission on Sunday (13).

Dahamdi scored 8½ points out of 11 games to reach the second spot. All games of the Asian continental event were held on Sunday.

The nine-year-old Oshini Gunawardena from Ferguson High School, Ratnapura also got second place in the rating category of less than 1500 in the same Asian Qualifier event. Gunawardena scored nine points along with two others and had to be satisfied with the second place according to the tie-breaker.

The pairings also are done by Tornelo in this 11-round event which has four categories as stated below:

* Category A - Ratings above 2200

* Category B - Ratings between 1800-2199

* Category C - Ratings between 1500-1799

* Category D - Ratings below 1500

The preliminary events were held as continental events of Asia, Africa, America, and Europe and the top three players in each continental event are to play the world event on Saturday, 26 June.

A total of 11 girls from Sri Lanka participated in the event; two players in Category C and nine in Category D. They were (other than Dahamdi and Gunawardena):

Woman International Master (WIM) Sachini Ranasinghe (Nf3 Chess Club), Chanindi M. Attanayake (Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo), Oneli Vithanawasam (Lyceum International School, Wattala), G.H.S. Senulya (Royal Primary College, Polonnaruwa), Piyumi U. Amarathunga (JMC International, Kalutara), Desandi D. Gamage (Sirimavo Bandaranayake College, Colombo), Nemindi L. Ramanayake (Bandaranayake Central College, Veyangoda), Tenuli D. Rathnayake (Ananda Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo), Sasmi Sithumsa (Lyceum International School, Ratnapura)