Talented chess player and outstanding student of Royal College Minul Doluweera emerged as the first runner up at the National Chess Championship 2020, proving once again that he is one of the best in the country.
The former Men’s National Champion of 2017 has been a member of the National ChessTeam in 2017, 2018 and 2020, and captained the team at the Asian Nations Cup in 2020. He was ranked no. 1 in Sri Lanka in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and was the highest-rated player in his age group for 10 years continuously since he was 11 years old
Winning the Under-20 Junior Nationals in 2014, at just 14 years of age and again in 2019, securing gold medals for Sri Lanka at the Commonwealth Chess Championship and the West Asian Youth Chess Championship 2016 and many more silver and bronze medals at several Asian Schools Championships are a testament to his prodigious early career.
The World Chess Federation recognized his strong international performances by awarding him the Candidate Master (CM) title in 2013 and the FIDE Master title in 2016. By representing the country every year since 2010, at over twenty-five international events, Minul has shown that consistency is one of his greatest strengths. His performances were duly recognized at a
national level when he was nominated for the awards of ‘Most Outstanding Sportsman’ for the year 2017 and ‘Best Emerging Sportsman’ for the year 2016 at Sri Lanka Schools Colours Awarding Ceremony. Minul has been awarded Sri Lanka Schools colours, Western Province colours and Royal College colours several times.
He captained the Royal College Chess team in 2019 and vice-captained it in 2018; two of their most successful years of the past decades, winning four golds, one silver and one bronze at the six major all-island team events held in the last two years, namely the National Schools Games, Sri Lanka Schools Team Championships and the Battle of the Kings.
Minul owes his illustrious chess career to the support and efforts of many parties who he gratefully appreciates. “My family is the core of everything I have achieved. My father taught me how to play the game of chess when I was two years old and still continues to teach me how to play the game . My mother has always been my bed rock. Balancing chess with my studies and so many more co-curricular activities was tough and in my darkest moments, she believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. If not for her I wouldn’t have played the World Chess Olympiad, the most prestigious tournament I have played yet, because I was concerned about my studies She knew I would be able to manage both,
I’m also grateful to my school coach Muditha Hettigama and my personal coach . Prasanna Kurukulasuriya. At Royal, the Principals, Senior Games Masters, Teachers in Charge of chess and my schoolmates have constantly been at my side through thick and thin all through my decade long chess career. Luxman Wijesuriya and the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka deserve all the credit for the immense advancement in chess over the past decade and a half, which set the foundation for me to grow as a player as well”.
Minul’s talents go far beyond chess. He was the Chairman of the Debaters’ Council of Royal College . Representing his school at the Asian World Schools Debating Championship 2016 he won the Novices championship and was adjudged the 7th best speaker.
He also performed main roles at the Inter-School Shakespeare Drama Competitions in 2017 and 2019 for the Royal College cast, and was a member of the College Eastern Band from 2009 to 2015.
Though being highly involved with chess and many co-curricular activities, Minul consistently performed well throughout his school academic career. It culminated in him obtaining 9As at O/Ls in 2016 and 3As in the Bio Science stream at A/L in 2019, ranking 14th in the district and 30th in the island. He won the Lakshan Buvinda De Silva Memorial Prize for the Best All-Rounder of his batch at Royal College and was appointed the Deputy Head Prefect of Academics of Royal College in 2020. He gained admission to the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo to pursue his higher education.(Y.K.)
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