Esandi and Devesh claim main titles
Esandi won the Under-18 Youth Girls title
Esandi Newansa of Dharmasoka College proved that she is the best chess player in the Youth Girls category, by winning the Under-18 title of the International Online Youth Chess Championships which was conducted as part of the celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of the Chess federation of Sri Lanka (CFSL). Esandi lost to low rated Nethumli Rashmitha in the very first round, but bounced back to beat all her other six opponents — Esha Pallie, Minudi Ranasinghe, Dulinma Rathnayake, Chanindi Attanayake and Yasasi Abeysekara — all from Sri Lanka and Alaina Vincent of India convincingly to claim 6 points out of 7 games and win the gold medal.
After a three-way tie among Alaina Vincent, Chanindi Attanayake and Desandi Gamage, Alaina claimed the silver medal with the better tiebreaker, while Chanindi won the bronze medal also in tiebreaking points recorded better than Desandi. Silver medalist Alaina beat Nimansa Sandanayake, Javindi Akuratiya, Oneli Weerawardena, Dulnima Rathnayake and Sayumi Gamage while losing to Yasasi Abeysekara and Esandi Newansa to claim 5 points.
Chanindi beat Sinlay Thanujana, Nemindi Ramanayake, Yasasi Abeysekara, Javindi Akuratiea drew with Chanthuli de Silva and Sayumi Gamage while losing to Esandi, the gold medalist. Desandi lost two games early in the competition to Minudi Ranasinghe and Chanthuli de Silva and returned to beat Punsadi Devaraja, Sanuthmi Jayalath, Rashmitha Mulleriawa, Oneli Weerawardena and Chanethma Marasinghe, also to claim 5 points.
Devesh Madhani of Kolkata, India scored 8½ points, just conceding a draw to Dinuga Basnayake to win the Under-10 title of the competition convincingly. He beat all other eight opponents — Dihein Wijeratne, Okitha Kuruppuarachchi, Lasitha Lakmuthu, K.G. Wimalaratne, Bhagya Samaraweera, Danindu Charutha, Dewdun Senehas and Menuksha Devasurendra to finish on the top with an unbeaten record.
Devesh Madnani claimed the Under-10 title
Three players, Nilash Kottage, Dewdun Senehas and Sanuk Nanayakkara scored 8 points each, as Nilash and Dewdun won the silver and bronze medals respectively on tiebreaking points. Nilash, also unbeaten beat Yehan Weerakoon, Vinuka Wijeratne, Yesandi Wickramarachchi, Kavinu Weerathunga, Dinuga Basnayake, Anuhas Weligamage and Sasmi Sithumsa while drawing against K.G. Wimalarathne and Sohan Dinsara to earn the silver medal of this category.
Dewdun beat Dulina Jayasinghe, Nulan Hewavitharana, Joel Fernando, Deegayu Hettiarachchi, Ethan de Hoedt, Naaditha Wijerathne, Anuhas Weligamage and Kausara Kodithuwakku, and lost only to the eventual winner Devesh, to claim 8 points and the silver medal. Though Sanuk too reached 8 points with wins against Aravindi Perera, Evin Cabral, Inura Bopeththa, Dinupa Dihein, Ethan De Hoedt, Oshini Gomes, Basuru Jayarathna and Sohan Dinsara but lost to Menukshan Devasurendra to score 8 points.
This competition is conducted by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka for Under-8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 age groups, in Open and Girls categories from January 22. The competition will end on March 12. A total of 246 players competed in Under-10 Open and in the Under-18 Girls, 12 players participated. The Under-8 (Open and Girls), Under-10 Open, Under-16 and Under-18 Girls and Under-18 Open segments have already been completed by CFSL. The Under-10 Girls and Under-16 Open events will be held next weekend. The event is held under the Tornelo Platform with a time control of 15 minutes and an increment of 10 second from the first move.
The organisers have arranged all fair play measures for a clean event. All participants are closely observed via a Zoom call and no one is allowed to contact the players while play is in progress. The games are also sent for FIDE experts for checking and recommendations.