3rd Negambo Chess Festival 2017 Chess Championship.

I always believed that to improve Chess among visually impaired Chess players is to give them an opportunity to play with regular vision Chess players in their tournaments. The message I send to Mr. Dulan Edirisingha, one of the administrators of the Facebook group www.chesslife.lk was published on the group and one of the organizers of the Negambo Chess Festival 2017  Mr. Malon Fenando gave an opportunity for visually impaired Chess players to participate in the 3rd Negambo Chess Festival 2017 Chess Championship.

The event was held from the 20^th of August to 24^th of August. More than 500 players participated in this tournament. Four visually impaired Chess players including myself were invited for this tournament. But other three players couldn’t participate in the tournament due to various reasons. I didn’t want to miss this golden opportunity.

I didn’t have big expectations for this tournament. I just wanted to participate and to get a good experience. I was so excited and happy to become the first visually impaired Chess player in Sri Lanka to play in a such a big event. I was really satisfied the way I played in the tournament. I got 5 points out of 10 rounds. The experience I got by playing with regular vision Chess players was so precious for me. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. I played my games on a special Chess board designed for visually impaired players, it was a new experience for other Chess players to play a game with me.

Since 2014 I am looking for a Chess trainer. It is a challenging task for a trainer because most of the Chess lessons are designed in visual form. But now with the latest technology we can read printed documents, notes etc. My goal is to be the Asian visually impaired Chess Champion in the next IBCA Asian Chess Championship. If I get the proper training and guidance I believe I can achieve my goal.

I would like to thank the organizers of the 3^rd Negambo Chess festival, for giving me an opportunity to play in the tournament. All the arbiters for carrying out the games I played according to the rules for a visually impaired player vs regular vision player and for all the other players for their support. I would like to congratulate Nanayakkara J A K Saranath for winning the chess tournament!

Finally I would like to share a game that I played in the tournament, which I enjoyed the most. I’m playing White.

1.e4, d5

2.exd5, Qxd5

3.Nc3, Qa5

4.Nf3, Bf4

5.d4, Nf6

6.Bd3, Bxd3

7.Qxd3, h6

8.O-O, e6

9.a3, c6

10.b4, Bxb4

11.axb4, Qxa1

12.Bxh6, Qxf1+

13.Kxf1, Rxh6

14.Ne4, Nxe4

15.Qxe4, Na6

16.b5, f5

17.Qe5, Nb4

18.Qxg7, Rxh2

19.Ne5, Rh1+

20.Ke2, Re1+

21.Kxe1, Nxc2+

22.Kd2, Nxd4

23.Qf7+, Kd8

24.Qd7#

All Island VIP Chess Tournment

The national Chess tournament for the vision impaired 2014 was organized by the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind. This was my first tournament in Chess. I started to learn Chess in end of 2013 and I had to face this challenging tournament in January 2014. Before the tournament I had some practice games with students from Rathmalana School for the blind and with my team members of The SLCB. I was able to win against them. The biggest challenge for me was to play against the Army team. Mr.Rathnayaka from Army was the previous champion and Mr. Indrajith was another strong player who was consistently among the top 3 VIP chess players in the island.

The competition was a knockout tournament. Where my first two games I played against Mr. Priyantha and Mr. Waruna. I was able to win those two games. There were about 32 players. The opponents were selected by picking up numbers randomly by players and I got number 7 for a start, where I thought it was a lucky start for my chess tournament career. In my 1st game I moved my Queen only once in the entire game, that is to deliver a checkmate in “d” file. The road to the top 8 was not so difficult. Then I had to play with Mr.Vichithran, a good chess player. Both played well but I was able to trap his Knight and win a piece up and win the game. In the semi final, my opponent was Mr. Ashanth. I sacrificed aRook to win the game. In the finals I lost to Mr.Indrajith, a player from the Army team.

I couldn’t be the champion in my 1st All Island Chess Tournament, but I’m happy I played well with experienced players. 1st place was Mr. Indrajith from the Army team, I placed 2nd from the SLCB and Mr, Nuwantha placed 3rd from Rathmalana School for thee blind.