Sixty-six qualify for National ‘B’ chess c’ships

A total of 66 players have qualified to play in the National B Chess Championship following their performances in the selection rounds held in Colombo, Kandy, Galle and Kurunegala. Of these, 34 men will join those with 2000 + ELO ratings while 32 will test their skills in a tournament that includes all rated women players in the country. The top players of the National B will play in the National A in a round robin tournament where the best players will go on to represent Sri Lanka at the next Chess Olympiad.

The tournament was organised by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka with the support of its member organisations in Kandy, Kurunegala and Galle.

As expected, national player Gayan Peiris won the Colombo ‘Major’ tournament winning 4 and drawing 3 games. A total of nine players were tied at 4.5 points and all of them qualified for the National ‘B’. Incidentally, this was the first time that a Major tournament qualified as a FIDE rated event and as such 10 instead of 8 will proceed to the next level.

P.M.R.L. Bandara won the Kandy event while a 15-year old sensation from Richmond College, Kavisha Amarasena came first in Galle, ahead of a field of reputed players. A.M.C.B. Alahakoon of Devans Chess Club, M.A.A.H. Ratnayake (Maliyadewa College) and R.D.A.C. Dissanayake (Kegalu Vidyalaya all scored 5 out of 7 in the Kurunegala Major, with Alahakoon being placed first on the tie-break.

Dhakshika Gunawardena (Visaka Vidyalaya), Dilshani Ranasinghe, Samasha Sayanjalee (Maliyadewa Girls College) and Charuni Sulakkana came first in the Colombo, Kandy, Kurunegala and Galle women’s events respectively.

Significantly, two veterans, Wasantha Wettasinghe (Kandy) and Malinda Seneviratne (Colombo) managed to qualify after being away from the game for many years.

The full list of qualifiers:
Men: Gayan Peiris, Malinda Senaviratne, Lakmal Amarasekara, Chandana Wijekoon, Oshadi Kottahachchy, Ushan Samarakoon, Shamin De Moraes, Dayal Siriwardena, Naditha Amarakoon, Vithana (from Colombo), P.M.R.L.Bandara, Y.D.B.Madugalle, H.L.M.Hapuarachchi, H.M.L.Y.Herath, T.U.Wickramanayake , L.N.Perera, Wasantha Wettasinghe, L.T.Kumara (Kandy), A.M.C.B. Alahakoon, M.A.A.H. Ratnayake, R.D.A.C. Dissanayake, C.B.J.C. Amarasinghe, R.M.D. Rathnayake, Lakshitha Randil, W.S.V.K. Koggala, Ruwantha Lakshan (Kurunegala), Kaveesha Amarasena, Sameera Gunasinghe, Rasheen De Silva, Thilina Egodage, Akila Miraj, Chamil Priyankara, Pasan Senanayake, Osheen De Silva (Galle).

Women: Dhakshika Gunawardena, Navoda Jayathilaka, Mihirani Jayathilake, Uthpala Hettikarannagoda, Kaushalya Kularatnam, Ravindee Gunaratna, Kavindi Nipunika, Sakuni Cooray (from Colombo), Dilshani Ranasinghe, Lakshika Wanasinghe, Dinushki Premanath, Janani Nanayakkara, .A.R.J.Akwaththa, D.W.Dissanayake, M.R.P.M.Meddegoda (Kandy), Samasha Sayanjalee, Devindi Alahakoon, Samadini Pinto, Sachini Weerakkody, Hiruni Bandara, S.Promodhi Sathya, Shakila Weerakoon, Hansini Gunarathna (Kurunegala), Charuni Sulakkana, Jalashi Lokunarangoda, Navodya Selvaratnam, Ayeshmathi Gunaratne, T.N. Amarasena, Naduni Abeywardana, Dulara Kumarasinghe, Inuri Kahanda (Galle).