By Ishani Upatharitha

[caption id="attachment_136571" align="alignleft" width="389"] Winner of Sri Lanka Online Youth U-16 Girls Rapid Chess Championship 2021 Esandi Newansa of Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda[/caption] The tournament saw participation of a total number of 70 players. The top 10 to emerge after the final round are as follows:

Key: No. / Player’s Name / School / Points

1. Esandi M. Newansa / Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda / 6.0

2. Piyumi U. Amarathunga / JMC College, Kalutara / 6.0

3. Desandhi Dhihansa Gamage / Sirimavo Bandaranaike BV, Colombo / 6.0

4. Tharushi Sandeepani / Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo / 6.0

5. Tenuli Rathnayake/ Ananda Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo / 5.5

6. Ashvini Pavalachandran / Wycherley International School / 5.0

7. Prasansa Premanath / Girls’ High School, Kandy / 5.0

8. Nemindi Ramanayake / Bandaranayake MMV, Veyangoda / 5.0

9. Oneli Wilvalaarachchi / Gothami Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo / 5.0

10. H.M.M.D. Herath / Maliyadeva BV, Kurunegala / 5.0

[caption id="attachment_136572" align="alignleft" width="252"] Desandhi Gamage of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Colombo, the third place winner[/caption]

The Sri Lanka Online Youth Under-16 Girls Rapid Chess Championship 2021 came to an end with four players scoring six points each, out of possible seven games, to top the rankings. Up-and-coming Esandi Newansa of Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda became the champion with the better tie-breaker in the championship.

Newansa showed an impressive performance throughout the tournament. She scored 4/4 points on day one and on day two of the tournament, Newansa scored 2/3 beating Ashvini Pavalachandran, a contender for Sri Lanka women’s national team. Newansa also beat Desandhi Gamage but lost her last game against Tharushi Sandeepani yet made a final score of 6/7 to win the title.

Well conducted online competition

The tournament which began on 15 May on the internet platform chess.com, ended on 16 May under strict “anti-cheating measures” under the supervision by the tournament arbiters. Players were allowed only to play with a laptop/desktop computer and possession of any other device was strictly prohibited.

The contestants were instructed to log on to the above website with their real name and photo. Only the applications that were sent via live video conferencing were accepted.

Competition for prodigies during pandemic

Records of all games were sent to the chess world body FIDE’s anti-cheating specialists for further inspection.

Any player who would have found guilty of cheating or making any violation of the stipulated rules was to be subjected to a two-year ban from competitive chess by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka (CFSL), the organisers of the tournament.

The CFSL organised the tournament with an aim of engaging young chess prodigies of the country to engage in the sport during the pandemic.

The top winners

[caption id="attachment_136573" align="alignleft" width="225"] Piyumi Amarathunga of JMC College, Kalutara who won second place[/caption]

Emerging runner-up in the championship was Piyumi Amarathunga of JMC College, Kalutara with a score of 6/7. After winning all her four games of the first day of the tournament, Amarathunga lost her first game on day two against Desandhi Gamage. Yet she regained her momentum beating H.M.M.D. Herath and Ashvini Pavalachandran thereafter.

Desandhi Gamage of Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vidyalaya, Colombo won the bronze medal with a score of 6/7 beating Piyumi Amarathunga and Devindya Gunawardena, but lost her game against Newansa.

Tharushi Sandeepani, a member of the Sri Lanka women’s national team, came back strongly getting six out of seven points, and three out of three on the second day. Yet Sandeepani had to contend with the fourth place in the end.