Tirta, Gerhana triumph as Vietnam dominates<\/p>\n
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesians Tirta Chandra Purnama and female compatriot
\n8-year-old Gerhana triumphed at the Junior ASEAN Chess
\nChampionships in Kuala Lumpur, which was dominated overall by the
\nVietnamese team.<\/p>\n
The nine-round tournament, in which participants competed for
\ntitles in 10 separate age categories, ended on Friday.<\/p>\n
Tirta, who played in the U-18 age category, collected eight
\npoints overall from nine games. His drubbing of Vietnamese
\nTrananh Tri in the final round on Friday was his sixth win on the
\ntrot, or eight in total at the tournament.<\/p>\n
His only loss came at the hands of Vu Dinh Hung in the third
\nround. The Vietnamese finished in second place followed by Lim
\nChuin Hoong of Malaysia.<\/p>\n
The victory must have been a consolation for the 15-year-old
\nTirta after he skipped last month's Asian tournament because he
\narrived too late at the airport to catch his scheduled flight.<\/p>\n
Gerhana triumphed in her first international appearance,
\namassing six points in the U-8 category to beat Nguyen Ngoc
\nPhuang Khanh of Vietnam and Hoen Huei Danielle of Singapore to
\nsecond and third place respectively.<\/p>\n
Tirta and Gerhana's achievement means that Indonesia, which
\nfielded 15 players -- 11 boys and four girls -- in the
\ntournament, could only take two of the ten trophies on offer.<\/p>\n
Apart from the two titles, the other contenders fared below
\npar. Even silver or bronze meals proved elusive for them, most of
\nwhom were playing in their international debut.<\/p>\n
\"The kids looked to be \"stage-intoxicated\" in their first
\ninternational performance,\" team's manager Nike Setiawati told
\nThe Jakarta Post from Kuala Lumpur by phone.<\/p>\n
Vietnam, whose squad included 2000 world champion Nguyen Ngoc
\nTruong Son, dominated the tournament with seven trophies, leaving
\nSingapore to take the other remaining title in the boys U-8
\ncategory with Christer Jon Alpin.<\/p>\n
Nguyen, who upset the rising Indonesian teenage star, Andrean
\nSusilodinata, in a head-to-head meet in Jakarta last March, led
\nthe Vietnamese team by taking the boys U-12 title.<\/p>\n
His triumphant compatriots were Hoang Chanh Huan (boys U-16),
\nVo Thanh Ninh (boys U-14), Le Quong Liem (boys U-10), Nguyen Thi
\nThuy (girls U-16), Le Phu Nguyen Thao (girls U-14) and Ngo Kim
\nTuyen (girls U-10).<\/p>\n
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups
\nBrunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Indonesia, Vietnam,
\nCambodia, Laos, Philippines and Thailand. The latter four did not
\nfield teams at the tournament.<\/p>",
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