Oshini finishes third at FIDE U-12 Girls World Cup
View(s):The inaugural FIDE Under 8-12 World Cup concluded with WFM Devindya Oshini Gunawardena winning the third place in the U-12 Girls category, beating Kristina Zavieva (FIDE) twice in the second round to record a commanding victory and create history for Sri Lanka.
The Under 8-12 FIDE World Cup was organised for the first time in Batumi, Georgia with the participation of 286 players representing 38 nations across three age categories. Each category was broken into two groups with the players finishing in the same position in each group playing each other to determine the final rankings.
Drawn into Group ‘B’ of the Girl’s U-12 age category, Oshini was the early front runner in the group winning her first five games. However, a heartbreaking loss in her penultimate game meant that she was caught in first place by Bordoloi Pratitee of India.
Despite finishing with 6 out of 7 points and on equal first in the group, she finished just behind Pratitee on tiebreak. However, she soon put any disappointment behind her to fight her way to a remarkable bronze medal highlighting her status as one of the leading women’s players in her age group in the world.
Sri Lanka was represented at the tournament by a five-player contingent with Oshini impressing the most while Hasini Anuththara Rupasinghe was also able to clinch 18th place in the U-8 Girls category. The other players in the
Sri Lankan contingent were Venukan Nayanakheshan (U-8 Open), Thehas Rithmitha Kiringoda (U-10 Open) and Sanuk Nanayakkara (U-12 Open).
This was not Oshini’s first triumphant foray on to the world stage having previously placed first at the FIDE World Cadets U-12 Girls Championship in Egypt as well as winning the West Asia U-12 Rapid Title in the U-12 Girls section. Already a Women’s FIDE master and the senior national women’s champion, Oshini will be hoping to show off her capabilities on one of the biggest stages of all at the Chess Olympiad, the biggest team chess championship in the world happening later this year.