Cerdas, Awam draw for four-way lead in Pusam Cup
Cerdas, Awam draw for four-way lead in Pusam Cup
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Samarinda, East Kalimantan
Grand Master (GM) Cerdas Barus drew with FIDE Master (FM) Awam
Wahono in their sixth-round match on Thursday, thus preventing
anyone from pulling ahead to the top of the Pusam Cup chess
tournament.
The two chess masters had been jointly leading in the
tournament, having defeated their respective opponents in the
fifth round late Wednesday, and having entered their game on
Thursday. Another win by either player would crown him king.
The battle came to a compromise, and they had to be content
with a half-point each, which allowed GM Edhi Handoko and Denny
Sonjaya to catch up, with 5.5 points each on top of their
provisional standings.
During the post-match analysis, Cerdas, who has a speech
impediment, showed that he had overlooked a good move in the
middle game, when he should have opted to move the queen to a3
instead of bishop to e3.
Cerdas, who played White, demonstrated how the queen move
would have destroyed Black's queen-side to his advantage.
Awam said holding a Grand Master player like Cerdas to a draw
with Black was a modest ending for him. "With us holding the
opposite-colored bishops in such a position, a draw is
unavoidable. I'm satisfied with the result," he said.
Edhi, who faced Cecep Kosasih, and Denny, who was paired
against Salor Sitanggang, showed better composure over their
opponents, each managing to establish an edge of one pawn ahead
in the endgame for their wins.
Edhi devised a sharp Tarrasch Variation in defense and
capitalized on Cecep's weak move to launch a lethal counteract.
During the endgame stage, he trickishly exchanged his rook with
bishop to pave way for an unstoppable promotion of his advancing
pawn on the a-file.
Denny accepted a pawn sacrifice by Salor in the opening stage,
while Salor established better spacing for his moves as
compensation and advanced with pressure.
However, he faltered in the next moves, and Denny wrested the
initiative and his plus-pawn decided the game.
Reigning champion Susanto Megaranto continued his rising
performance by beating Laksana Agusta to collect 5 points, equal
to that won by International Master (IM) Ivan Situru, Sudung
Tampubolon and Sugeng Prayitno.
His junior teammates Tirta Chandra and East Kalimantan-based
Taufik Halay also chalked up wins to stay half a point behind
him, with 13 other players including GM Ardiansyah and FM Hamdani
Rudin.
The participants played the seventh-round matches late on
Thursday. They are to have a break on Friday before resuming play
with the last two rounds on Saturday.