Suneetha Wijesuriya
Full nameSuneetha Godigamuwage Wijesuriya
CountrySri Lanka
Born (1963-06-18) 18 June 1963
TitleWoman FIDE Master (2012)
Peak rating2020 (July 1996)

Suneetha Godigamuwage Wijesuriya (born 18 June 1963) is a veteran Sri Lankan chess player and coach.[1] She won Sri Lanka's first ever gold medal at a World Chess Olympiad when she achieved it during the 30th Chess Olympiad which was held in Manila in 1992. Up to date, she remains as the only chess player to have won a gold medal at a World Chess Olympiad for Sri Lanka. She has also won the Sri Lankan Women's National Chess Championship title ten times (1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1995 and 1997). She is well known for her efforts in developing the game of chess across the country.

Biography

She was born on 18 June 1963 in Megoda, Kolonnawa. She was born as the second child in her family and she has three siblings.[2] Her sister Vineetha Wijesuriya, her brothers Shelton Wijesuriya and Lakshman Wijesuriya were also notable chess players who played the game at national level.[3]

Career

She initially had no knowledge about the game of chess as she had not even played it during childhood. She only began playing chess in 1978 at the age of 17 when she was pursuing her Advanced Level education at the Sri Rajasinghe Central College in Kudabuthgamuwa.[4]

Her English language tuition teacher W. A. D. de Zoysa became her first chess coach. She eventually competed in the inaugural edition of the Sri Lanka Women's National Chess Championship which was held in 1979 and she subsequently finished as runners-up in the women's singles final.[5] She brought her first chess board with the prixe money which she earned for her second place finish at the 1979 National Chess Championship. She claimed her first national title in 1980 and also continued her dominance at national level by pocketing seven consecutive national titles from 1982 to 1988.

She created history at the 1992 World Chess Olympiad after securing a gold medal in the competition. It became only the second major sporting achievement for Sri Lanka at global level after Muhammad Lafir's world title triumph during the 1973 World Amateur Snooker Championship. She attained individual points about 6.5 points out of 8 points winning 6, drew one and losing just one game during the 30th Chess Olympiad. She took part at 30th World Chess Olympiad along with her younger sister Vineetha and younger brother Laxman.[6]

She also took part at the 1996 World Chess Olympiad which was held in Armenia and registered 7 wins out of 11 games. She surprisingly decided to quit playing chess after realising that she did not get much attention from Sri Lankans despite her gold medal success and instead started promoting it in various parts of Sri Lanka. The lack of knowledge about chess among Sri Lankans during that time also prompted Suneetha to make awareness about the game.[7]

She initially worked with the Sri Lanka Chess Federation to popularise and develop chess in Sri Lanka. In 1994, she conducted a simultaneous chess exhibition at the BMICH to promote the board game and she won 15 games during the exhibition. Then Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayawardene attended the exhibition chess event as the chief guest.[7]

She approached the Russian Cultural Centre in Colombo in 1997 with an intention to promote the game throughout Sri Lanka. She also later founded the Anatoly Karpov Chess Club in 1998 at the Independence Memorial Hall, Colombo and also served as its chief instructor.[7] Under her leadership at the Anatoly Karpov Chess Club over 500 free chess coaching camps had been conducted in various parts of Sri Lanka in schools, institutes and coaching camps have also been held for Sri Lanka Army and Sri Lanka Navy.[8][9][10]

She has also coached many young chess players in Sri Lanka including the likes of Sachini Ranasinghe who went onto become the first Sri Lankan woman FIDE International Master.[11][12]

Honours

She was awarded the Women FIDE Master title in 2012.[13][14] She received the FIDE instructor's title in 2014.[15][16]

She received the SLT Silk Award for Outstanding Dedication and Contribution to Promote Sports at the inaugural edition of the SLT Silk Sports Awards in 2017.[8] She was awarded the SLT Silk Award exactly on her 25th anniversary since winning the gold medal at the 1992 World Chess Olympiad.[17]

She was awarded the title of Kreeda Ratna at the 2019 Presidential Awards.[18]

The International Chess Federation has named 2022 as the year of Women Chess and Suneetha was awarded the Outstanding Game Changer of Chess in Asia

References

  1. ↑ "Official web site of Suneetha Wijesuriya - Home". www.chesssuneetha.com. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  2. ↑ "Biography - Official web site of Suneetha Wijesuriya". www.chesssuneetha.com. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  3. ↑ "Chess champ Vineetha recalls her rise and exhorts kids to play". Sunday Observer. 21 December 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  4. ↑ "The Sunday Times Plus Section". www.sundaytimes.lk. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  5. ↑ A Queen's Gambit | Sri Lanka's best chess player-Suneetha Wijesuriya, retrieved 7 September 2021
  6. ↑ "Suneetha's 25th chess celebrations". The Sunday Times Sri Lanka. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 "All The Queen's Men: One Woman's Mission To Create A Chess Playing Culture In Sri Lanka". roar.media. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  8. 1 2 "Suneetha receives SLT Silk Award". Sunday Observer. 20 January 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  9. ↑ "Chess players rewarded by Anatoly Karpov Club". Sunday Observer. 10 November 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  10. ↑ "Colombo's Anatoly Karpov chess club conducts 500th camp". Sunday Observer. 8 September 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  11. ↑ "Ishini is tipped to be the next National chess champion". www.sundaytimes.lk. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  12. ↑ "Chess like that!". Daily News. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  13. ↑ "Suneetha gets Fide Master title after 20 years". Daily Mirror. 25 October 2012. Archived from the original on 7 September 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2023 – via PressReader.
  14. ↑ "Mrs. Suneetha Wijesuriya, the Olympiad Gold medalist is also awarded WFM Title ! - Official web site of Suneetha Wijesuriya". www.chesssuneetha.com. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  15. ↑ "Suneetha Wijesuriya honoured". Daily Mirror. 30 August 2014. Archived from the original on 7 September 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2023 – via PressReader.
  16. ↑ "Women's Fide Instructor (FI) Title for Suneetha - Official web site of Suneetha Wijesuriya". www.chesssuneetha.com. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  17. ↑ "Woman FIDE Master Suneetha Wijesuriya queen of the night". The Sunday Times Sri Lanka. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  18. ↑ Amath, Sherifdeen (18 July 2019). "Indika, Anusha Most Outstanding". Daily News. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
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