Big chess meet set for anniversary

Big chess meet set for anniversary

JAKARTA (JP): World number one Garry Kasparov and Poland's ace
Yudith Polgar are expected to pit their wits here in an
international chess tournament held in conjunction with
Indonesia's 50th anniversary, official says.

Cholid Ghozali, vice president of the Indonesian Chess
Association (Percasi), told reporters upon opening a simultaneous
game featuring Russian player Master International Nikolai
Andrianov on Monday that the chess meet is restricted to the
world's top 100 players with a minimum elo rating of 2,500.

"The tournament will be as big as that we organized more than
a decade ago." Cholid said. More than 15 Grand Masters entered a
chess extravaganza held in Yogyakarta and Jakarta in 1982, vying
for the Madame Tien Soeharto trophy.

Cholid failed to mention the date of the invitational meet,
but confirmed that it will take place after Aug. 17. "Many of our
players will be wandering around the world for other tournaments
until August," he said.

Percasi secretary Djamil Djamal added that, performance-wise,
only Indonesia's number one GM Utut Adianto and number two GM
Edhi Handoko would qualify for the event. Utut is currently
ranked 78 in the world with an elo rating of 2,585.

Indonesia played host to the world championship sanctioned by
the world chess body FIDE in October 1993 which pitted Russian
Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman of the Netherlands. The match was
held after defending champion Kasparov broke away from FIDE and
set up a rival body, the Professional Chess Association.

Kasparov and FIDE's reelected president Florencio Campomanes
considered a reconciliation during the 31th Olympic of Chess in
Moscow in December last year. Kasparov led Russia I to win the
Olympiad.

Chess Olympic

Percasi, buoyed by a surprising result at the Chess Olympic,
is preparing to bid for hosting the 35th meet in 2002. "We hope
to reach an optimum position when we host the world's biggest
chess meet," said Cholid, adding that the plan is in accordance
with national sports strategy which sets 2002 as the start of a
golden era.

Indonesian men's team shot up to 28th place from its previous
ranking of 40th during the Moscow chess Olympiad competition. In
contrast, the national women's squad dropped its ranking by six
places from 18th of two years ago to 24th.

Cholid said Percasi had hired Andrianov to train the national
teams for the upcoming Olympic in Yerevan, Armenia next year. The
Russian coach, who helped Indonesian top women's player Lindri
Yuni attain her Master International title in 1993, will also
train players groomed for the junior championships.

Andrianov scored 20 wins, four draws and three losses in his
27 rapid games on Monday night. Hastomo, a nine-year-old student
of Enerpac chess school, sprung a little bit of surprise when he
forced Andrianov to give up in the 23rd move. (amd)