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155:'s world title triumph during the 1973 World Amateur Snooker Championship. She attained individual points about 6.5 points out of 8 points winning 6, drew one and losing just one game during the 30th Chess Olympiad. She took part at 30th World Chess Olympiad along with her younger sister Vineetha and younger brother Laxman.
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She also took part at the 1996 World Chess
Olympiad which was held in Armenia and registered 7 wins out of 11 games. She surprisingly decided to quit playing chess after realising that she did not get much attention from Sri Lankans despite her gold medal success and instead started promoting it in
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Her
English language tuition teacher W. A. D. de Zoysa became her first chess coach. She eventually competed in the inaugural edition of the Sri Lanka Women's National Chess Championship which was held in 1979 and she subsequently finished as runners-up in the women's singles final. She brought her
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She received the SLT Silk Award for
Outstanding Dedication and Contribution to Promote Sports at the inaugural edition of the SLT Silk Sports Awards in 2017. She was awarded the SLT Silk Award exactly on her 25th anniversary since winning the gold medal at the 1992 World Chess Olympiad.
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first chess board with the prixe money which she earned for her second place finish at the 1979 National Chess
Championship. She claimed her first national title in 1980 and also continued her dominance at national level by pocketing seven consecutive national titles from 1982 to 1988.
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She initially had no knowledge about the game of chess as she had not even played it during childhood. She only began playing chess in 1978 at the age of 17 when she was pursuing her
Advanced Level education at the Sri Rajasinghe Central College in Kudabuthgamuwa.
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and also served as its chief instructor. Under her leadership at the
Anatoly Karpov Chess Club over 500 free chess coaching camps had been conducted in various parts of Sri Lanka in schools, institutes and coaching camps have also been held for
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She approached the
Russian Cultural Centre in Colombo in 1997 with an intention to promote the game throughout Sri Lanka. She also later founded the Anatoly Karpov Chess Club in 1998 at the
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title ten times (1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1995 and 1997). She is well known for her efforts in developing the game of chess across the country.
95:(born 18 June 1963) is a veteran Sri Lankan chess player and coach. She won Sri Lanka's first ever gold medal at a World Chess Olympiad when she achieved it during the
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She initially worked with the Sri Lanka Chess
Federation to popularise and develop chess in Sri Lanka. In 1994, she conducted a simultaneous chess exhibition at the
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various parts of Sri Lanka. The lack of knowledge about chess among Sri
Lankans during that time also prompted Suneetha to make awareness about the game.
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The
International Chess Federation has named 2022 as the year of Women Chess and Suneetha was awarded the Outstanding Game Changer of Chess in Asia
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after securing a gold medal in the competition. It became only the second major sporting achievement for Sri Lanka at global level after
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576:"Mrs. Suneetha Wijesuriya, the Olympiad Gold medalist is also awarded WFM Title ! - Official web site of Suneetha Wijesuriya"
131:, her brothers Shelton Wijesuriya and Lakshman Wijesuriya were also notable chess players who played the game at national level.
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She was awarded the Women FIDE Master title in 2012. She received the FIDE instructor's title in 2014.
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to promote the board game and she won 15 games during the exhibition. Then Sri Lankan President
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in 1992. Up to date, she remains as the only chess player to have won a gold medal at a World
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635:"Women's Fide Instructor (FI) Title for Suneetha - Official web site of Suneetha Wijesuriya"
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386:"All The Queen's Men: One Woman's Mission To Create A Chess Playing Culture In Sri Lanka"
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127:. She was born as the second child in her family and she has three siblings. Her sister
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She has also coached many young chess players in Sri Lanka including the likes of
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She was awarded the title of Kreeda Ratna at the 2019 Presidential Awards.
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who went onto become the first Sri Lankan woman FIDE International Master.
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A Queen's Gambit | Sri Lanka's best chess player-Suneetha Wijesuriya
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283:"Chess champ Vineetha recalls her rise and exhorts kids to play"
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660:"Woman FIDE Master Suneetha Wijesuriya queen of the night"
492:"Ishini is tipped to be the next National chess champion"
466:"Colombo's Anatoly Karpov chess club conducts 500th camp"
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attended the exhibition chess event as the chief guest.
258:"Biography - Official web site of Suneetha Wijesuriya"
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745:30th Chess Olympiad (women): Manila 1992 Results
233:"Official web site of Suneetha Wijesuriya - Home"
542:"Suneetha gets Fide Master title after 20 years"
440:"Chess players rewarded by Anatoly Karpov Club"
113:Sri Lankan Women's National Chess Championship
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735:Outstanding Game Changer of Chess in Asia
740:Official web site of Suneetha Wijesuriya
123:She was born on 18 June 1963 in Megoda,
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611:from the original on 7 September 2021
552:from the original on 7 September 2021
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356:"Suneetha's 25th chess celebrations"
750:Daily News- Personality Of The Week
684:Amath, Sherifdeen (18 July 2019).
414:"Suneetha receives SLT Silk Award"
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730:Lankachess - Sri Lanka Chess News
686:"Indika, Anusha Most Outstanding"
93:Suneetha Godigamuwage Wijesuriya
32:Suneetha Godigamuwage Wijesuriya
781:Sri Lankan female chess players
309:"The Sunday Times Plus Section"
601:"Suneetha Wijesuriya honoured"
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801:People from Colombo District
147:She created history at the
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791:Chess Olympiad competitors
664:The Sunday Times Sri Lanka
360:The Sunday Times Sri Lanka
175:Independence Memorial Hall
149:1992 World Chess Olympiad
796:Chess Woman FIDE Masters
786:Sri Lankan chess players
111:. She has also won the
16:Sri Lankan chess player
639:www.chesssuneetha.com
580:www.chesssuneetha.com
262:www.chesssuneetha.com
237:www.chesssuneetha.com
755:30th Chess Olympiad
716:Suneetha Wijesuriya
548:. 25 October 2012.
129:Vineetha Wijesuriya
97:30th Chess Olympiad
24:Suneetha Wijesuriya
607:. 30 August 2014.
517:"Chess like that!"
496:www.sundaytimes.lk
472:. 8 September 2018
446:. 10 November 2018
313:www.sundaytimes.lk
289:. 21 December 2019
195:Sachini Ranasinghe
99:which was held in
420:. 20 January 2018
168:J. R. Jayawardene
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59:(age 61)
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776:1963 births
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242:7 September
765:Categories
691:Daily News
521:Daily News
390:roar.media
219:References
53:1963-06-18
125:Kolonnawa
119:Biography
109:Sri Lanka
64:Kolonnawa
41:Sri Lanka
609:Archived
550:Archived
62:Megoda,
615:24 July
556:25 July
201:Honours
179:Colombo
37:Country
135:Career
101:Manila
76:(2012)
164:BMICH
70:Title
720:FIDE
699:2021
671:2021
646:2021
617:2023
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