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Sri Lanka stages giant-killing act at FIDE Chess Olympiad

06 Sep 2021

     

By Ishani Upatharitha

Sri Lanka played extraordinarily well in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2021 to finish fourth.

Though suffering losses in the first two rounds against strong Belorussia (1 1/2 - 4 1/2) and Norway (2 - 4), Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe (4 ½ - 1 1/2), Portugal (4 - 2), Albania (3 1/2 - 2 1/2), Montenegro (4 - 2), and Scotland (4-2), along with two draws against champion Israel and top-seed Sweden to score 12 match-points to end up in an impressive fourth place.

Israel won first place outplaying Belorussia, who was the leader till the eighth-round of the final leg winning all eight games, except a draw against Sri Lanka.

Belarus became second with 16 points while Sweden was the third with 13 points.

Sanudula Dahamdi scored 7 ½ points out of nine games while Susal De Silva scored 6 ½ points out of his nine games in the last two boards. Ranindu Liyanage, playing the strongest top board, managed to score 4 ½ points out of eight games.

The Uzbekistan Grandmaster Alexie Barasov made a great contribution towards preparing the Sri Lanka team for the event.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES OF SL PLAYERS No. / Player Name / (FIDE title*) / Games / Points
  1. Ranindu Liyanage (CM) / 8 / 4.5
  2. Minul Doluweera (FM) / 8 / 3.0
  3. D. Premanath (WFM) / 8 / 3.5
  4. S.D. Ranasinghe (WIM) / 4 / 1.0
  5. Susal De Silva (FM) / 9 / 6.5
  6. S. Dahamdi (WCM) / 9 / 7.5
  7. Isuru Alahakoon (FM) / 2 / 1.0
  8. T.H.D.T. Niklesha (WCM) / 6 / 3.0
Key: CM=Candidate Master, FM=FIDE Master, WFM=Woman FIDE Master, WIM=Woman International Master, WCM=Woman Candidate Master * FIDE titles in order: (i) Grandmaster (GM), (ii) International Master (IM), (iii) FIDE Master (FM), and (iv) Candidate Master (CM)
   


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