The 20th July was approved as the International Chess day by the United Nations last year.
Chess is one of the most famous games in the world. It was recorded that about 700 million Chess players in the world today. The World Chess Federation has started a programme to increase the number till one billion people in the world. So, the FIDE was celebrating the 20th July as the world Chess day to mark their birth of 20th July 1924 in Paris.
FIDE, the world Chess Federation is one of the most active Sporting Bodies in the World. They conduct the World Chess Championships and FIDE Chess Olympiad in every two years term. They also conducedt the World Chess Championships in all sectors such as Cadet (Under 8, 10, 12 years), Youth (Under 14, 16 & 18 Years), Junior (Under 20), Amateur, Seniors, Schools & Universities in both gender. They also organize the regional events through their five continental Associations. Currently, the FIDE is led by . Arkady Dvorkovich, who was the main organizer of the Football World Cup 2018, and Deputy Prime Minister of Russia between 2012 and 2018. It is a very famous sport in Sri Lanka too, mostly among the School Children. The Sri Lankan Chess Federation claims that they have a registered membership of around 150,000 Chess players in Sri Lanka. Almost all the events conducted by the fide are organized as National events here starting from District level. The strongest player and the National Chess Champion is Harshana Thilakaratne of Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala who is just 16 years in age. He achieved the International Master Title from FIDE this year for his performance.
The Women’s National Champion is Gihansa Jayaweera from Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda who is still 17 years. The Chess Federation is one of the most active sporting organizations in the country having more than 150 Tournaments per year. There are about 10 International Ranking events per year with handsome cash rewards. Even the National Chess Champion is awarded a cash prize of Rs. 100,000/=. The CFSL has conducted at least one international Asian or Commonwealth event per year. In 2019, we organized the Asian Youth Chess Championships 2019 at Citrus, Waskaduwa with 300 foreign players from 23 Asian Countries.
The Chess Federation hired an Ukraine Grand Master, Dymitro Komrov to Train our Youth and National Pools which was popular among Sri Lankan top players. We also participated in the Asian Junior/ Girls online Championships and won the Women’s Championship in the South Asian Region.
We are also expecting to participate in the FIDE online Chess Olympiad which is conducted by the FIDE where about 180 countries will participate. (Y.K.)
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