Haritha wins nine out of nine to clinch title

CFSL Online Under 12 Chess Championship 2021

Haritha Hansana from Denipitiya Primary School beat all nine opponents to emerge as the champion of the Inaugural CFSL Online Under-12 Championship on Sunday.

Hansana beat Krithik Koneshwaran, Methan Sritharan, Asini Gamage, S. Fairooz, B.A.M. Arachchi, Sithum Pahasara, Pamok Samaranayake, Sasula Pathirana and S.S.L.N. Dandeniya to remain unbeaten throughout the tourney.

Hansana who won the National Youth Under-10 title in 2019 is one of the strongest youth chess players in Sri Lanka and has represented the country at many international events.

Thehara Galagedara of Musaeus College won the silver medal as she aggregated eight points in nine games. She too is one of the strongest youth girls’ chess players in the country. Her only blemish was the defeat at the hands of Dinith Perera in the second round.

Aloka Hettiarachchi of Nalanda College also scored eight points in nine games to share the second place with Thehara but had to be satisfied with the bronze medal after the tie breaker. He was unbeaten throughout the event and drew with Sethum Manuwaruna (in the first round) and Ashad Mohammed (in the seventh round) and scored seven wins.

The Online Under-12 Championship conducted by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka was taken part by more than 230 chess players. The event was held on the chess.com platform over the weekend according to the Swiss system in nine rounds. The time control was 15 minutes per player and 10 seconds increment per each move.

According to CFSL the event was conducted under strict anti-cheating guidelines according to FIDE laws. CFSL said that only laptops were allowed to play games and all players were observed through a Zoom meeting.