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)