Andrean beats Indian chess ace

Andrean beats Indian chess ace

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian junior chess player Andrean Susiladinata toppled Indian ace Abhijeet Gupta on Wednesday to open up his chance to finish among the top three at the World Age Group Chess Championships in Oropesa Del Mar, Spain.

Playing in the under-10 category, Andrean, 8, forced Gupta to resign in the 32nd move of their ninth-round match. The victory lifted Andrean to eighth in the provisional standings on 6.5 points. He must win the final two matches on Friday and Saturday if he is to emerge the third finisher in the division.

"It was an incredible performance, not only because he beat Gupta but managed to rekindle his chance to make a podium finish," Indonesian team manager Kristianus Liem said.

The Indonesian scored a hat trick of wins in his opening matches. He suffered a setback in the next three matches, drawing only once and losing twice.

Andrean is one of three prodigies of the Enerpac Chess School representing Indonesia in the annual world meet. Taufik Halay and Susanto Megaranto are competing in the under-12 event.

Taufik scored another victory on Wednesday, beating Jure Borisek of Slovenia on the 43rd move of their game developed on the Sicilian Dragon defense. Susanto managed a draw with Alexei Kim of Russia.

The two Indonesians are in a 10-way tie for 30th place on 5.5 points. There are two matches remaining in the section, but Kristianus was upbeat his players would rank high.

"If Taufik and Susanto win those last two matches, I'm confident they will join the top 10. That will be a repeat of their feat in the previous event in Cannes, France, last year," Kristianus was quoted by Antara as saying. (lnt)