Crisis spikes women players' guns: Eka<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A chess observer has said that this year's
\ntarget to develop a woman grandmaster could not be achieved while
\nthe country was in such economic turmoil.<\/p>\n
\"We are facing a difficult financial situation. Many of the
\nnational chess programs have been stopped including the target of
\nthe Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) to get an Indonesian
\nwoman up to grandmaster status,\" Eka Putra Wirya, the
\nassociation's training director said Tuesday. Eka is also
\ndirector of the Enerpac chess school.<\/p>\n
Eka said the economic crisis had caused the association to
\ncancel its target to increase the number of male grandmasters.
\nSeveral senior players were scheduled to participate in a number
\nof international tournaments overseas in a bid to boost their
\nratings.<\/p>\n
The players are International Masters Ruben Gunawan, Cerdas
\nBarus and Ivan Situru.<\/p>\n
Percasi had already canceled the planned training program for
\nwomen International Masters Maria Lucia, Upi Damayanti and Lisa
\nLumondong organized by their coach Nikolai Andrianov of Russia.
\nThey too were scheduled to take part in international tournaments
\nfor their grandmaster titles.<\/p>\n
\"We have to economize our spending until the country's economy
\nis stable. One of the plans which has to be undertaken is
\npreparing the women players for the Chess Olympics in Kalmykia
\n(Russia) this September,\" Eka said, as quoted by Antara news
\nagency.<\/p>\n
Following the economic crisis, Percasi is currently
\nconcentrating on improving the junior players who competed in the
\nworld junior chess championships in Cannes, France, last
\nDecember.<\/p>\n
Four players, Taufik Hallay, Susanto Megaranto, Evie
\nLindiawati and Bagas Prama Ananta, competed in Cannes, from Dec.
\n8 to Dec. 18. They performed well at the world meet.<\/p>\n
They are currently undergoing intensive training at Enerpac.
\nOf the four, Eka believes Susanto and Taufik have the most
\npotential.<\/p>\n
In the Cannes tournament, Taufik and Susanto succeeded in
\nbeing ranked among the 10 best players in the world.<\/p>\n
\"Susanto and Taufik performed impressively. We will continue
\ntraining them and will send them to next year's world junior
\nchess championships. We hope that they perform better,\" Eka said.
\n(lnt)<\/p>",
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