Photograph by : Mr. Ruwan Gunaratne
Galle Major Champion 2020 A Gihan Kanchana De Silva
11 May 2020
Name - A.Gihan Kanchana De Silva
FIDE - 9901590
Rating – 1823(Peak Rating 2058)
A. Gihan Kanchana De Silva is one of the well-known chess players of the country and a well-established coach who has produced an Asian Youth Chess Champion and one Women’s FIDE Master and a FIDE master, who happens to be the youngest of the country during that time.
Apart from being an enthusiastic chess player and coach, he’s a graduate from SLIIT with an honors degree in B.Sc. IT.
When he’s a student of Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda, he brought college’s very first national championship back in 2003 as the caption of the U-15 team. Since then, he’s one of the most influential players in the Sri Lankan school set up. He’s an integral part of the powerful SOKIANS Team who won many accolades between 2003 and 2008.
The game of chess was introduced to him by Mr. Sameera Gunasinghe back in 99/2000, Mr. Terence Priyankara & Mr. Shashika De Silva helped him in various stages of his chess career. He first burst into the national chess arena when he participated in the 2005 National Chess Championship becoming the first to do so from Dharmasoka College, and again he played in the Sri Lanka Nationals in 2010.
While being a well-established chess coach, and most of his students playing in the highest level, he still haven’t given up his love for the playing this beautiful game, since he even takes part in chess tournaments, the most recent one being playing Sri Lanka Major’s Galle Division where he becomes the champion.
His Major Achievements as a coach
- Asian Youth Champion
- Asian School Champion
- A FIDE Master
- A Women’s FIDE Master
- Two Women’s National Champions
- West Asian Champions
- No of Students in National Teams
- More than 30 Asian Medals
Following is one of his favourite games.
[Event "Sri Lanka Nationals A - 2005 "]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Russell, MKA."]
[Black "De Silva, A.Gihan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2212"]
[BlackElo "2022"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2007.01.??"]
[EventCountry "SRI"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 c5 4. f3 Nf6 5. dxc5 Na6 6. e4 Nxc5 7. Nc3 d6 8.
Qd2 Ne6 9. Be3 g6 10. Nge2 Bg7 11. O-O-O O-O 12. Kb1 b5 13. Bh6 b4 14. Nd5 Nxd5
15. exd5 Nc5 16. Ng3 Bh8 17. Be3 a5 18. Bd4 Bxd4 19. Qxd4 a4 20. Qxb4 Bd7 21.
Bc4 Rb8 22. Qa3 Qc7 23. Rhe1 Bb5 24. Rd4 Qa5 25. Red1 Rb7 26. Bxb5 Rxb5 27. c4
Rb4 28. Ne4 Rfb8 29. Nc3 Rxb2+ 30. Qxb2 Rxb2+ 31. Kxb2 a3+ 32. Kc2 Na4 33. Nxa4
Qxa4+ 34. Kc3 f5 35. Rb1 Qa5+ 36. Rb4 g5 37. h3 Kf7 38. Rd2 Qc5 39. Rd4 Qa5 40.
g4 f4 41. Re4 Qa7 42. Rd4 Kf6 43. Rb1 Qa5+ 44. Kd3 Qa7 45. h4 h6 46. h5 e5 47.
dxe6 Kxe6 48. Re1+ Kd7 49. Rd1 Qb6 50. Rd2 Kc7 51. Kc3 Qa5+ 52. Kb3 Qb6+ 53.
Kxa3 Qa5+ 54. Kb2 Qb4+ 55. Kc2 Qa4+ 56. Kd3 Qa3+ 57. Ke4 Qe3+ 58. Kf5 Qe5+ 59.
Kg6
by Dennis Livera
globelchess.lk is thankful to Mr. Dennis Livera for writing an article about his friend Gihan on our request.
Dennis, who is a Software Professional by trade, is a former teammate of Gihan de Silva at the Dharmasoka College. He's one of the founding members of the DHAMSO International Chess Festival(DICF) and a former coach at Dharmasoka College.
