Anniswati Cup to prepare women's chess players for 2003 SEA Games

Anniswati Cup to prepare women's chess players for 2003 SEA Games

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Worried about its medal prospects in the 2003 Southeast Asian
(SEA) Games, Indonesia is set to launch the Anniswati Cup, an
open chess tournament for women, at the end of this month.

The tournament will be arranged in three series, with contests
being staged in both the classical and rapid chess games. The
first series will be held from May 27 to June 2 with the second
in August and the third in October.

"We hope that the tournament will produce a number of
potentially strong women's players to be recruited for a training
camp ahead of the SEA Games," Kristianus Liem, the spokesman of
the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi), told reporters here
on Tuesday.

Kris, as he is familiarly known, said that the first two
series would generate top ten participants for the closing stage,
in which the tournament format would shift to a Swiss system
played over nine rounds.

With women's tournaments having become a rarity today, the
Anniswati Cup could be a chance for a reunion of the country's
past stars, including Maria Lucia, Darmayanti, Lisa Lumondong and
Lindri Yuni.

The four made up an Indonesian team that finished in 11th
place at the 1996 Chess Olympics in Armenia.

It was the best performance Indonesia had ever chalked up in
the biennial world chess event, a feat never equaled by their
male compatriots.

But the foursome have since disappeared from the national
chess scene, with Kris putting it down to family commitments.

"We will try to invite them to the tournament as wild-card
holders along with another six recipients," he said, adding that
the ten, being invitees, would be provided with free
accommodation during the tournament.

With a training camp planned for January of next year, the
composition of the women's team will not be decided until after a
few other events have been held to follow up on the Anniswati
Cup.

Being the biennial sporting meet among the Southeast Asian
nations, the Vietnam games will be officially offering medals in
the chess competition for the first time since the game was
included as an exhibition event in Kuala Lumpur in 2001.

The Vietnamese organizing committee has announced that eight
golds will be up for grabs -- four in the men's and four in the
women's divisions.

With the host team likely to dominate the women's field,
Indonesia will be left to fight it out for second best against
the Philippines and Myanmar.

"It's tough going against Vietnam. We do have a chance,
although it will be slim. If it is only to go after silvers, I
guess we can match the Philippines and Myanmar," Kris said.