30 March 2011
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Sachini Ranasinghe of Sri Lanka has become Sri Lanka’s first WIM. We had an earlier report from FIDE that she got the WIM title after 25 years of Rani Hamid though Hamid is Bangladesh’s first first WIM.
Sachini Ranasinghe – Sri Lanka’s second WIM after 25 years.
Sachini has earned the title by winning the Asian Zonal 3.2 Women’s Chess Championship. Meanwhile, Bangladeshi Grandmaster Ziaur Rahman, who was the top seed, won the Asian Zonals, by notching up 7.5 points out of possible 9 games. Grandmaster, Niaz Murshed placed second and Abu Safin Shakil was tird. Shrestha Sujendra Prasad from Nepal earned his FM title while Shakil earned his IM title.
Sachini and Zia also get tickets to the respective World Cup of Chess. Aktar Lisa from Bangladesh also scored 7 points and tied with Sachini. But her loss in an early round to Sachini kept her back on tie-break. FM Supeshala Thilkawardena earned the third place.
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