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Suneetha Wijesuriya

by Ilika Karunaratne

I had always thought of chess as a man's game, and an abstract and uneventful one at that. It was a surprise therefore, to meet Suneetha Wijesuriya, who spends her entire time, promoting chess throughout our country. "I was at school at Rajasinghe Maha Vidyalaya; our English teacher, Mr. W. A.D. de Soysa, who was a member of the Mt. Lavinia Chess Club brought chess boards to school, to encourage interest in the game, and to teach it to us. I started playing then.

I had to leave school after my 'A' Levels, due to my father's death after an accident, and chess soon became the greatest interest in my life. I was the runner-up in the National Womens Championship in 1979 and continued to win the National Womens Championship ten times in a row; it was not held annually; all this happened between 1980 and 1997.

My highest achievement up to now and by far the most thrilling one, was when I won a gold medal, at the 30th World Chess Olympiad, in Manila, in 1992. My euphoria, was enhanced by the fact, that 850 players from 102 countries participated. There were 20 medals to be won; the Russians won 19 and I won the other. Chess in Russia is a great national interest, rather like cricket here. I felt very happy that I had achieved something for my country."

My utter ignorance about chess made me delve into its history. Chess began as a war game, symbolising a battle between two armies. Some believe that it was invented in North-West India, about fifteen hundred years ago. A Moslem legend states that a philosopher, named Sassa invented the game for an Indian King. Chess is said to be a game that stirs up strong emotions: opponents at the chessboard sometimes become deadly enemies away from it. It is said that in a battle for the World Championship between Anatoly Karpov and Gary Kasparov, the situation became so tense that the two players could not bear to shake hands with each other.

"My success at the Olympiad inspired me to take chess here up to the level of cricket and athletics. So I stopped playing and started on its promotion instead To help me with this, I began the Antoly Karpov Chess Club at the Russian center in 1998. Coaching in chess is given free of charge here, on request. In the process of promotion, I have had 95 chess coaching camps and we now have 50,000 chess players in the country. My work has taken me all over the country, reaching out into far off areas."

Why do you think it is so important for children to learn chess? "One can perfect ones skills; patience is the name of the game; one learns to think ahead about resolving problems and mathematical problems too. Most chess players have been achievers in the field of education. It is certainly preferable to watching violence on TV or video or at the cinema. It keeps the minds of children occupied in a healthy occupation and has the added bonus that space and money are not requirements. It is a game which is well within everyones reach and is suitable for our country."

What about your family commitments in relation to your travelling for chess? "My husband is very supportive of my work. I wouldn't have been able to do so without his help. He accompanies me to all weekend camps and so do my two children Nishantha who is 14 and Chamika, who is 12 they are keen chess players, and accompany us too. It is good exposure for them as they meet children from all over the country. We conduct many tournaments too, all island age group, womens and veterans.

We had the all island age group for the first time in Colombo in 1999 the second time we had four provinces competing in 2000, which we increased to seven provinces including Trinco in 2002. We were very fortunate to have International Grandmasters from Russia, India and Indonesia, coming here to conduct islandwide camps, which contributed greatly to raising the standard of the game. I can perceive an hundred percent increase in interest in the game among children from six years onwards, from the time I began my promotion of chess.

Our classes at the Russian Cultural Centre held every evening have been very popular too and students have shown enthusiastic interest. I cannot describe the great sense of satisfaction I feel when we send students to participate in tournaments abroad and they do well there. Last year 41 students went to India, to participate in the 9th Solar Open Chess tournament in Chennai and four of our players won trophies. In January this year, 25 players participated and two won. I am confident that chess will in the future be very popular at an international level.

My interest in chess is so vital and so time consuming that I really have no time for any other interest. But I have no regrets about this as I feel I am passing on my knowledge to others and influencing them to play the game and enjoy it as much as I do.

I give chess instructions at several schools, and it is a great joy to me when I find that children are so enthusiastic about it that they make a special effort to come very early to school to take part in this. All my strength, my time and my money, goes into the promotion of chess. Among schools I must say that the greatest effort to promote chess was at Isipatana College. The Principal had read about our promotion of the game at the Russian Centre and called me about an year ago, to ask me whether I would do the same at his school.

I readily accepted and introduced the game to 4000 students through 15 coaching programmes. We followed this with a coaching programme for 175 teachers and this too, by another for the parents." It was a wise move and the Principal seems to be a far seeing man with vision, as a common interest like this can be a strong bond which in turn prevents misunderstandings and can build bridges between generations. Isipathana now, proudly displays an enormous chess board made of tiles and have a weekly chess quiz.

Apparently there is lively interest in chess within the mercantile sector too, and Suneetha plays an active role in this too. She tells me that some regiments of the army have shown an interest in the game too. May be if some of our non-fighting generals of the recent past who gave orders to the army from Colombo, had learned chess, the war may not have been such an absolute disaster!

Perhaps if Suneetha had gone on with her chess playing, she could have well reached the standard of an International Grandmaster. But she sacrificed her personal ambition for the sake of the country; in order to promote the game among children. A much healthier pastime than many others, as the patience that chess endows one with will help to control tempers. Students today seem to resort to violence at the least provocation; any game that will help prevent this trend should be encouraged. Suneetha has forged an unbreakable bond with chess.

She has down to earth wisdom, is self-confident and is totally absorbed in the game, which is her world. Some inner force of optimism is gently leading her by the hand in her promotion of the game. Her intention is to enrich the minds of children with patience and with thinking ahead which are essential for dealing with life itself. She has expanded her horizons, strengthened her will and deepened her perception in the course of her work.

Patience is an attribute, that we, in this country, do not possess in abundance which is to our detriment. Perhaps the promotion of chess will help to develop patience which we seem to need in all situations in life. Talking to Suneetha, has helped me to realise that chess may be a difficult and complex game but that it is certainly not boring.

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