Indonesia has little hope of winning Chess Olympiad<\/p>\n
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
After a high-flying performance with its junior team in Kuala
\nLumpur, the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) appears to
\nhave become indifferent ahead of the upcoming World Chess
\nOlympiad.<\/p>\n
The 2002 Olympiad will be staged in Bled, Slovenia, from Oct.
\n25 to Nov. 11. Percasi decided on Friday that five players would
\ndepart for the tournament.<\/p>\n
Led by team manager Bunawan, who is also Percasi's chief in
\ncharge of research and development, the players include
\nInternational Master (IM) Cerdas Barus, IM Ivan Situru, FIDE
\nMaster (FM) Awam Wahono, Andy Nurjabal and Susanto Megaranto.<\/p>\n
Unlike its participation in the last Olympiad in Turkey,
\nPercasi defied the selection process, with Eka Putra Wirya,
\nPercasi's executive director, saying it was \"a compromise among
\nPercasi officials\".<\/p>\n
\"Dissatisfaction automatically arises in any decision when we
\nare up for a tournament. Those not included are likely to
\nprotest,\" Eka told The Jakarta Post after the organization's
\nmeeting here on Friday.<\/p>\n
It appears that IM Danny Juswanto and Irwanto Sadikin were
\noverlooked. Danny is regarded as the second best player after GM
\nUtut Adianto while Irwanto proved his worth at the Wismilak
\nInternational tournament in Surabaya in August by managing to win
\nan IM norm.<\/p>\n
Cerdas is the only member of the team who took part in the
\nlast edition of the tournament in Turkey in 2000. Ivan has
\nOlympiad experience, but that was six years ago when it was held
\nin Moscow in 1996.<\/p>\n
\"We decided to try young players. We are not preoccupied with
\na certain target. We will be simply competing and see if any of
\nthem can make the best of their effort,\" Eka said.<\/p>\n
While being pessimistic about the team's performance against
\nthe world's powerhouses in chess, Percasi has high hopes on
\nindividual performance, especially on Cerdas and Susanto.<\/p>\n
Cerdas will go to Bled, aiming to raise his current rating of
\n2456 to attain his grand master (GM) title.<\/p>\n
Susanto, 15, will be seeking his second IM norm after his
\nfirst at the Wismilak International tournament.<\/p>\n
Susanto also steered the national junior team to third place
\nbehind China and Ukraine at the World Youth Chess Olympiad in
\nKuala Lumpur last month.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, with team members of Utut, GM Edhi Handoko, GM
\nRuben Gunawan, IM Danny Juswanto and FM Hamdani Rudin, finished
\nat a lowly 44th place in Turkey two years ago.<\/p>",
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