For the 8th time Buddhi International Open Rating Chess
Championship was organized by Mrs. Buddhi Panagoda the managing director of
Buddhi education development centre. The venue for this year's event was Apsara
Hotel in Nittabuwa. I got the opportunity to play in this tournament under the
visually impaired category. Over 550
chess players participated in this tournament and we had to play 10 rounds. My
friend Mr. Ashanth Deemantha also played under the visually impaired category.
So for the first time two visually impaired Chess players participated in an
international rating Chess tournament in Sri Lanka.
In this tournament I got the opportunity
to open my ratings. It was a huge step in my Chess career. After 20 years of
Visually impaired Chess in Sri Lanka to be the first rated visually impaired
Chess player was a great achievement for me. If more and more visually impaired
Chess players can participate in these kind of rated tournaments, I hope we can
form a strong visually impaired Chess team in Sri Lanka. I got 5.5 points, i got the opportunity to play 7 rated players
and to get 2.5 points against them.
I would like to thank Mrs. Buddhi
Panagoda for giving me the opportunity to play in this tournament.
