'Blue Friday' for RI's youth chess stars<\/p>\n
Musthofid
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
The sixth round of the World Youth Chess Championship in
\nOropesa del Mar, Spain, saw the Indonesian youth team dealt a
\ncruel blow as all three team members were defeated.<\/p>\n
Susanto Megaranto, who held the overall lead only two days ago
\nand was expected to shine in the championship, failed to hold off
\nHungarian Viktor Erdos' onslaught in their U-14 category match.<\/p>\n
Andrean Susilodinata, in the U-12 category, lost to another
\nHungarian, ninth seeded Krisztian Szabo. Also in the Under 12
\ngroup, Boy Reinhard completed the ignominious hat trick by
\ngetting dumped by Spaniard Ivan Salgado Lopez.<\/p>\n
The defeat knocked Susanto down to seventh place with 4.5
\npoints from six matches. Erdos, meanwhile leads the group with
\n5.5 points after his win over Susanto, coupled with his fifth
\nround shellacking of second seed Hikaru Nakamura of the United
\nStates.<\/p>\n
Andrean stayed on 4 points and had to settle for a mediocre
\n15th while Team Indonesia rookie, Boy, with one win, three draws,
\nand two losses, was languishing well back of the leaders.<\/p>\n
Erdos seemed to have equipped himself with a special counter-
\nvariation against Susanto's favorite Sicilian Sveshnikov strike.
\nThe fierce Hungarian induced Susanto into playing the opening
\nmoves so quickly that the Indonesian overlooked his opponent's
\nunorthodox 5th move, which proved to be the turning point.<\/p>\n
\"Susanto should have allowed himself a break at that stage to
\nevaluate the position and review his strategy. Instead, he
\ncarried on with his routine moves, which turned out to impede him
\nfrom developing an attack,\" Kristianus Liem, a team official
\nstated.<\/p>\n
Erdos was in total control of the game from that point
\nhenceforth. The only chance for Susanto to earn a possible draw
\ncame in the 36th move, but that opportunity was missed as well.<\/p>\n
Erdos needed 48 moves to finally stop Susanto, who has now
\nlost hold of the top spot in a just matter of two days.<\/p>\n
Coach GM (Grand Master) Utut Adianto admitted to being caught
\nout flatfooted in the preparation.<\/p>\n
\"I have to admit we only prepared for a French defense, which
\nis Erdos' favorite repertoire,\" he said, and added that he was
\nstill optimistic that the tournament would be a success for his
\nyoung charges.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/blue-friday-for-ris-youth-chess-stars-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}