Chess body to recruit young players to boost dream team

Chess body to recruit young players to boost dream team

JAKARTA (JP): Newly installed chairman of the Indonesian Chess
Association (Percasi) Bambang N. Rachmadi said on Tuesday the
association aims to boost its dream team performances in the
future by staging more tournaments in the country.

Bambang, who also manages a chain of fast-food restaurants
throughout the country, said he wanted more players to join the
team of four junior players, comprising Susanto Megaranto, Taufik
Halay, Andrian and Tirta Chandra.

"We know have a grand master, Utut Adianto, and the dream
team. But the gap between the two generations is really wide. We
want to narrow the gap and recruit more young players to join the
team," said Bambang after his installment ceremony at the
National Sports Council (KONI) office in Senayan, Central
Jakarta.

As part of the program, Percasi will stage three competitions
next year, which also aim to promote chess and boost national
chess player performances.

One of the competitions is the Bank IFI championship held in
Percasi's 23 provincial chapters. Winners of the competition will
go on to join the McDonald's Chess Master Circuit, which is
staged every three months. Another tournament is the Enerpac
tournament, which will take place between both of the
competitions mentioned above.

Percasi also plans to stage competitions by inviting overseas
grand masters.

Bambang said 10 of the 23 chapters had the potential to set up
chess schools in their respective chapters. Some chapters have
set up schools, including Yogyakarta and East Java. Two chapters
of Jakarta and Bali founded the schools.

A Percasi official in charge of player development, Eka Putra
Wirya, said Utut, world elo rating of 2,605, would fight in an
online chess match against Nigel Short of England, world elo
rating of 2,675, on Feb. 12, instead of this month, at the Ibis
Hotel Slipi, West Jakarta.

KONI vice chairman Arie Sudewo said on Tuesday sports
organizations must stage qualifying rounds for the 15th National
Games (PON) in Surabaya in June.

Arie was responding to questions on the Indonesian Cycling
Association (ISSI) which did not stage a qualifying round but
decided on the qualified athletes based on their performances in
several competitions from last year.

"If ISSI doesn't want to stage the qualification, they must
tell us what problems they are facing. They can't just deny the
decision without good reason," he said.

But ISSI secretary-general Hussein Argasasmita said that ISSI
told its 26 provincial chapters that the qualification would be
based on cyclists' national ranking until the deadline for PON
this month.

"We have reported our decision to KONI. In cycling, only track
events can be measured by the best time, but others cannot.
That's why ISSI keeps monitoring competition results in our
provincial chapters," he said.

ISSI will feature individual time trials (ITT), track, open
road race and mountain bike events at PON in Surabaya, Malang and
Jember. About 130 athletes have qualified in the event, which
offers 21 gold medals. (yan)