Gukesh Dommaraju: Indian Teen Becomes The World’s Youngest Chess Champion

Published

2 years ago

December 14, 2024

Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju has become the youngest-ever world chess champion after beating defending champion China’s Ding Liren in a dramatic turn on Thursday.

Dommaraju, 18, is four years younger than the former record-holder, Russian grandmaster Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he won the title in 1985.

The Chennai prodigy has long been a superstar in the chess world, having attained the status of chess grandmaster at the age of 12.

But he was seen as the outside challenger going into the final round of the FIDE World Chess Championship, held in Singapore this year.

Playing on black, Dommaraju won the game after Ding, who had been in a solid position, made a fatal move that gave up his last powerful piece.

His blunder delivered victory to the 18-year-old, who until now had been ranked fifth in the world and second in his own country.

The 14-game World Championship competition had been closely watched by chess fans around the world this past fortnight.

Peradeniya tops SL universities in global rankings

Published

3 weeks ago

August 19, 2026

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The University of Peradeniya has been ranked the top university in Sri Lanka in the latest 2026 rankings released by the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR).

The rankings assess universities based on indicators including educational outcomes, graduate employability, faculty quality, research, and overall performance.

The University of Peradeniya was ranked 1,695th among 21,291 universities worldwide.

The university administration said the ranking represents significant recognition of its international-level performance in education and research.

Sri Lanka’s Omar Hazari wins global public speaking championship

Published

2 months ago

July 23, 2026

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Sri Lanka’s Omar Hazari has won the English-Speaking Union International Public Speaking Competition (IPSC) 2026, earning the country its second consecutive title at the prestigious global contest.

The 19-year-old, representing Royal College, Colombo, won the final held in London with a speech inspired by his own experience of childhood bullying. He spoke about overcoming a severe stutter with the support of others and later launching an anti-bullying campaign at his school that has reached more than 3,000 students.

The IPSC brings together national champions from 45 countries and regions and is regarded as the world’s largest public speaking competition, involving more than 100,000 students each year. Sri Lanka also won the 2025 title through Sashane Dassanayake.

Education

Ja’pura Uni. publishes international case study on Port City Colombo

Published

2 months ago

July 18, 2026

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The Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, in collaboration with Port City Colombo, has co-authored and internationally published an academic case study and accompanying teaching notes for students, examining the project’s potential role in shaping Sri Lanka’s long-term economic future.

Published by Nova Publishers, New York, USA, the study titled “Port City Colombo: Catalysing Sri Lanka’s Emergence as a Global Investment Hub” provides a multidisciplinary analysis of the project’s urban planning, strategic, economic, regulatory, and sustainability dimensions.

The case study is featured as a chapter in the book, “Is Sri Lanka Revitalising its Economy? An Analysis of Economic Policy and Technological Adoption,” edited by S. Perera, N. Nanayakkara, G. Samarakoon, and S. Bamunusinghe, and published under the 21st International Conference on Business Management (ICBM), the flagship conference of the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce.