The strength of the top 10 players has opened a slot for a Sri Lanka player for the FIDE World Cup.
" VII. One hundred (100) Federations are selected according to the average rating of their ten (10) highest-rated players in the December 2020 FRL (not more than 40 per Continent). These Federations must nominate any player of their choice who is registered to their Federation by June 5th, 2021 - one hundred (100) players."
Ranindu got the opportunity to represent Sri Lanka as the first Sri Lankan chess player for the FIDE World Cup. The event was started on the 11th of July 2021 in Sochi, Russia.
Recent achievements of Ranindu made him and Sri Lanka Chess a big hope even the event is full of strong players.
Recent achievements of Ranindu:
Champion - Sri Lanka National Chess Championship 2020
Champion - Sri Lanka Chess Grand Prix 2021
2nd Runner up - Asian Zonal Chess Championship 2021: Zone 3.2 South Asia Zone
Ranindu has just started the journey and the Sri Lanka chess community is awaiting more and more international achievements in the near future.
Whenever Globalchess.lk team contacts him, he never forgets to thank his current coach international master Romesh Weerawardhana and reminds the service of the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka which is lead by Mr.Luxman Wijesuriya. Ranindu also stated that Uzbekistani chess Grandmaster Alexei Barsov helped him in this tourney.
Ranindu is always ready to share his path to success with the young players of Sri Lanka Chess.
Meeting the legends is not just an opportunity, but a motivation for the future.
Photographs by Mr.Rajesh Liyanage (Ranindu's Father)
Here are the FIDE World Cup games played by Ranindu with his annotations.
[Event "FIDE World Cup 2021"]
[Site "Sochi"]
[Date "2021.07.12"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Oparin, Grigoriy"]
[Black "Liyanage, Ranindu Dilshan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2654"]
[BlackElo "2203"]
[Annotator "TA"]
[PlyCount "181"]
[EventDate "2021.07.12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 d5 3. Nf3
e6 4. c4 b6 5. e3 Bb7 6. Nc3 {A13: English Opening: 1...e6.} a6 7. cxd5 exd5 8.
d4 {The position is equal.} Bd6 9. g3 O-O 10. Bg2 Nbd7 11. O-O Re8 12. Ne2 $5 {
[%mdl 4]} Ne4 13. Nf4 Ndf6 14. Rc1 {[#]} a5 $146 {I wanted to play Ba6 and
harass the f1 rook} 15. Ne5 c5 16. Ng4 Bxf4 {Interesting choice to give the
pair of bishops. Not a common decision but I thought that the bishop on b2
will be bad if I mange to play c4} 17. gxf4 Nxg4 18. Qxg4 {Black must now
prevent Bxe4.} Bc8 (18... Ba6 19. dxc5) 19. Qh5 Ba6 20. Rfe1 c4 {Now I get
what I wanted} 21. f3 Nf6 22. Qh4 (22. Qg5 $15) 22... Rc8 {My first instinct
was to play b5 but I thought to play simpler because this is my black game} (
22... b5 $1 $17 23. e4 b4) 23. e4 $11 dxe4 24. fxe4 c3 $1 {[%mdl 64] Decoy} 25.
Rxc3 (25. Bxc3 Rxc3 26. Rxc3 Qxd4+ 27. Rce3 Nd5 28. exd5 Rxe3 29. Qd8+ Re8+)
25... Qxd4+ {[%mdl 64] Double Attack} 26. Qf2 Qxf2+ 27. Kxf2 Rcd8 {...Rd2+ is
the strong threat.} (27... Rxc3 {is interesting.} 28. Bxc3 Rc8 29. Bd4 Rc2+ 30.
Kg1 Nh5) 28. Rc2 Bd3 29. Bxf6 (29. Rd2 Bxe4) 29... Bxc2 30. Bxd8 Rxd8 {[%mdl
4096] Endgame KRB-KRB} 31. Bf3 g6 32. Ke2 a4 33. bxa4 Bxa4 34. Rb1 Rc8 35. Rxb6
Rc2+ 36. Ke3 Rxa2 37. f5 Ra3+ 38. Kf2 $1 Rb3 (38... Bb3 {seems wilder.} 39. f6
h5 40. e5 Be6 41. Rb5 Ra2+) 39. Rd6 gxf5 40. exf5 Kg7 41. f6+ Kg6 42. Be4+ Kg5
43. h4+ Kxh4 44. Rd4 Rb2+ 45. Ke3 Bb3 (45... Bb5 {If I play this move I could
save my bishop but I choose to play Bb3}) 46. Rb4 Kg5 47. Kd4 {I missed this
move and I thought White would play Bd5 and take the bishop. Then I have some
bind on the rook and bishop} Kxf6 48. Kc3 {[%mdl 64]} Rf2 49. Rxb3 $14 {KRB-KR
This is a therotically draw position} h5 50. Rb5 h4 51. Rh5 Rh2 52. Kd3 Rh3+
53. Kd4 Rh2 54. Ke3 h3 55. Kf4 Rf2+ 56. Kg3 Rb2 57. Rxh3 Rb3+ 58. Bf3 Kg5 59.
Rh5+ Kg6 60. Rc5 f5 {I wanted to give up my pawn and achieve the second rank
defence} 61. Kf4 Rb4+ 62. Ke5 Rb1 63. Rc8 Re1+ 64. Kf4 Ra1 65. Rc6+ Kg7 66. Bd5
Ra5 67. Rd6 ({Much weaker is} 67. Kxf5 Rxd5+ 68. Ke6 Ra5 $11) 67... Ra7 $2 {
[%mdl 8192]} (67... Ra1 $16) 68. Kxf5 $2 (68. Kg5 {mates} f4 69. Kxf4 Ra1 70.
Ke5 Rd1 71. Re6 Ra1 72. Re7+ Kh6 73. Rd7) 68... Rc7 {I achieved the second
rank defence but he manged to breakthrough my defence in the end} 69. Rg6+ Kf8
70. Ke6 (70. Ke5 $1 $16) 70... Re7+ (70... Rc6+ $1 $11 {This is a forced draw
somehow I missed it because of time pressure} 71. Bxc6) 71. Kf6 $16 Rf7+ {[#]}
72. Ke5 $1 Rc7 73. Be6 {White wants to mate with Kd6.} Rg7 74. Rf6+ Ke7 75. Rh6
Kf8 76. Kd6 {Intending Rh8+ and mate.} (76. Rh8+ {looks sharper.} Ke7 77. Bf5
Kf7 78. Ra8 Ke7 79. Ra7+) 76... Rg5 77. Rh7 {Rf7+ would kill now.} Rg6 78. Rc7
(78. Ra7 {is more complex.} Rf6 79. Rb7 Rg6 80. Rb8+ Kg7 81. Ke5) 78... Rf6 79.
Ke5 (79. Rc8+ {with more complications.} Kg7 80. Ke5 Rf8 81. Rc2 Kg6 82. Rg2+)
79... Rg6 80. Rf7+ Kg8 81. Bd5 (81. Rd7+ {feels hotter.} Kf8 82. Kd6 Rh6 83.
Rf7+ Kg8 84. Rc7+) 81... Rg7 82. Rf5+ Kh7 83. Bf7 Rg4 84. Kf6 Rh4 85. Bg6+ Kh6
86. Rg5 {Threatens to win with Bf5.} Rf4+ 87. Bf5 {White threatens Rg8 and
mate.} Rc4 $2 {[%mdl 8192] [#]} (87... Rb4 $16) 88. Rg8 $1 {White mates.} Rc6+
89. Be6 Rc7 90. Rg6+ Kh5 91. Rg3 {Weighted Error Value: White=0.04/Black=0.05}
1-0
[Event "FIDE World Cup 2021"]
[Site "Sochi"]
[Date "2021.07.13"]
[Round "1.5"]
[White "Liyanage, Ranindu Dilshan"]
[Black "Oparin, Grigoriy"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B67"]
[WhiteElo "2203"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[Annotator "TA"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2021.07.12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O Bd7 $1 {8...Bd7 scores better than 8...
h6.} 9. f3 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Be7 {B67: Sicilian: Richter-Rauzer: 7...a6 8 0-0-0
Bd7, lines without 9 f4 Be7.} 11. Bxf6 (11. g4 {feels hotter.} O-O 12. Be3 b5
13. g5 Nh5 14. f4) 11... Bxf6 12. Qxd6 {[#]} Qe7 $146 {White has an edge.} ({
Predecessor:} 12... Bxc3 13. bxc3 Rc8 14. Rd3 Qe7 15. Kb2 Rc6 16. Qxe7+ Kxe7
17. e5 Rhc8 18. Re3 Rb6+ 19. Kc1 Bb5 20. Bxb5 Rxb5 21. Rd1 Ra5 22. Kb2 Rb5+ 23.
Kc1 Ra5 24. Kb2 Rb5+ 25. Kc1 {1/2-1/2 (25) Paehtz,E (2466)-Krush,I (2435)
Saint Louis 2019}) 13. e5 (13. Qxe7+ {keeps more tension.} Kxe7 14. Bd3 g5 15.
Ne2 Rhg8 16. c3) 13... Qxd6 14. exd6 Bxc3 15. bxc3 Rc8 16. c4 Ba4 17. Rd4 {
next c5! is good for White.} Kd7 18. Bd3 Rc5 19. Be4 Bc6 {[%mdl 1024] Black
has compensation.} 20. Bd3 g6 21. Be2 Rc8 22. Rf4 f5 23. Rh4 h5 $1 24. Rd1 {[#]
} Bd5 $1 25. Rdd4 {[#]} (25. cxd5 Rxc2+) 25... b5 $1 26. cxd5 $2 {Loses the
game.} (26. Rh3 $17 {was called for.}) 26... Rxc2+ $19 {[%mdl 64] Double Attack
} 27. Kd1 (27. Kb1 $142 e5 28. Bxb5+ axb5 29. Rd1) 27... e5 28. Rb4 {[#]} Rc1+
$1 29. Kd2 {Strongly threatening Rb2.} R8c2+ 30. Kd3 Rxa2 31. g4 Re1 32. gxf5 (
{Avoid the trap} 32. gxh5 $2 Rexe2 33. Rh3 gxh5 $19) 32... gxf5 33. Rxh5 Rexe2
({Resist} 33... Raxe2 34. Rxf5 Re3+ 35. Kc2 $19) 34. Rxf5 Kxd6 {[%mdl 4096]
Endgame aiming for ...Kc5. KRR-KRR} ({Less strong is} 34... Rxh2 35. Rxe5 Kxd6
36. Rf5 $17) 35. Re4 $2 (35. Rf8) 35... Red2+ {Black is clearly winning.} 36.
Kc3 Kc5 37. Rf8 Rac2+ 38. Kb3 Rb2+ 39. Ka3 a5 40. Rc8+ Kxd5 {( -> ...Ra2+)} 41.
Rd8+ Kc6 42. Rxd2 (42. Rc8+ $142 Kd7 43. Rg8) 42... Rxd2 43. Rxe5 {KR-KR} Rd3+
44. Kb2 Rxf3 45. Rh5 a4 {[%mdl 32]} 46. Rh8 Kc5 47. Rh7 Kb4 48. Rh4+ Ka5 49.
Rh8 a3+ 50. Ka2 Ka4 {Weighted Error Value: White=0.77/Black=0.20} 0-1
Photograph by : Mr.Rajesh Liyanage
