Anuruddha, Samasha win national Chess titles

Anushka WITANAGE

G.C. Anuruddha (Fisher Chess Club) emerged National ‘B’ men’s Chess Champion after tying with veteran Player Luxman Wijesuriya (University of Moratuwa) with seven points from 10 games at the National ‘B’ Chess Championships concluded at the Institute of Construction Training and Development Pelawatte, Battaramulla.

Anuruddha had a better tie breaker since he was playing in the top table from the beginning. He drew with Lahiru Hapuarachchi (Kingswood College) and Luxman drew with GM Pieris (Fisher Chess Club) in the last round.

Samasha Undupitiya of Maliyadeva Girls College, Kurunegala also tied with Sachini Ranasinghe of Musaeus College won the Women’s National ‘B’ Championship title on a tie breaker. She drew with Irindu Basnayake (Girls High School, Kandy), who was placed third with seven points while Sachini drew with Navodya Selvaratnam (Girls High School, Kandy) in the last game.

G.M. Pieris, Rajeendra Kalugampitiya and Isuru Alahakoon from Fisher Chess Club, Dulan Edirisinghe, Prasanna Kurukulasuriya from Paul Morphy CC, T.S. Mallawarachchi (Kandy Chess Community CC) Shamine De Moraes (NF3 Chess Club) already tied for the third place with 6 1/2 points have qualified to play in the National A Chess Championship 2009 to be held in June.

Jeewanthi Rathnayake, Navodya Selvaratnam, (Girls’ High School, Kandy) and Naduni Abeywardena (Ferguson High School, Ratnapura) tied for the third place while Lakshika Wanasinghe and Lihini Walallawita remained in the seventh on equal points.

This year, the championship was sponsored by Sri Lanka Telecom