Harshana Tillekaratne was awarded the International Master (IM) title by the World Chess Federation at their Council meeting held early this month.
He becomes Sri Lanka’s second International Master after Romesh Weerawardena won the title in 2013 at the Asian Zonal Chess Championship held in Sri Lanka.
Tillekaratne qualified for the IM title winning three norms with the required rating of 2400. He has won many titles including the Commonwealth under-16 championship and was chosen to represent Sri Lanka at the Asian Youth Chess at the Online Inter-Continental Youth Chess Cup 2020.
He also received the Presidential Sports Award for his performances in 2018.
Tillekaratne was selected to represent the Asian team at the Inter-Continental Online Youth Chess Cup organised by the European Chess Union with the support of FIDE, the World Chess Federation. The event was held on October 10.
This is the first time a Sri Lankan has received this honour through the senior age category. He scored three points out of six games he played in.
The event consisted of the 4 FIDE continents: Asia, Africa, America and Europe, pitting 16 players to battle it out over six rounds.Asia shone by beating Europe once (8½- 7½), America twice (14-2) (14-2), Africa twice (16-0) (15½ - ½) and one draw with Europe (8-8). (DR)