Piyumi Uthpala excels in chess

Piyumi Uthpala Amarathunga is a rising young chess player and highly talented student of Boswell College International – Kalutara. Studying in grade nine, one of the international Rated Chess Players in Sri Lanka and one of the top youth players in Kalutara district. She is the daughter of Nishika Thushara Dharmasri Amarathunga and Keppetipola Nilamalage Nilma Manoji Prasangika of Kalutara.

Her extraordinary talent was noticed by Madushan Sameera Dissanayaka the Manager of the Super Fighters Chess Academy and got her to his chess academy. Now Piyumi is a leading member of the most active Chess Club in Kalutara District. the Super Fighter Chess Club (SFCC) was founded in 2017, mainly focused on developing and uplifting chess between the Kalutara district youngsters.

Piyumi Uthpala during a chess match

Piyumi came to competitive chess in 2018 and performed very well especially in 2020 and 2021. Her first tournament was Kalutara District Inter Club Tournament. After a few years she won 3.5 out of 7 in both National Blitz and Rapid which was held in 2020. The performance of the tournament gave her the chance to be Blitz and Rapid international rating after that tournament. After few months she played the Under-14 Online Youth Girls Chess Championship and was selected to play Under-14 Online Asian Nation Cup Girls team event representing Sri Lanka. Since 2020 Piyumi went on to train with more dedication and effort. some days she would wake up around 3am and practice chess.

Piyumi emerging 1st runner up at Sri Lanka Under 16 Girls Online Youth Chess Championship 2021 which gave her the opportunity to represent Sri Lanka FIDE Online Rapid World Cup Cadets & Youth – G16, Asian Youth Chess Championship – Under 16 Girls, and Western Asia Youth Online Chess Championship – Under 14 Girls, which gave her chance to play against high rated players. She won against some of them and got lot of experience.

In 2021 She played the Sri Lanka Youth Under 14 Girls Grand Prix Chess Championship-2021 and Sri Lanka Women National B Chess Championship-2021 and also She got the opportunity to play the Asian Juniors Girls’ Chess Championship-2021, five Asian countries including Sri Lanka participated in the tournament, which was organized by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka and Piyumi ranked 13 in this competition. She was also ranked 11th in the Asian Juniors Girls’ Blitz chess Championship. It was also an opportunity for her to gain a better experience and to improve her chess career.

Born into a family interested in sports Piyumi’s elder brother Kosala Sandeepa is a Sri Lankan player with over 1350 international ratings who has played in many chess tournaments representing Sri Lanka including World Youth Online Chess Championship, Asian Junior Chess Championship and recently Western Asian Youth Chess Championship.

“I love chess a lot, I got a lot of things because of chess chess has been a great help to me in my good education. I also got to know a lot of friends. so many thanks to my chess coach Madusan Sanders who has brought me this far. the Super Fighter Chess Club was also gave me a big support. many thanks for my former school JMC international College Kalutara and the current Boswell College International,” said piyumi.