Chess body wants to popularize the games

Chess body wants to popularize the games

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Chess Association wants to
increase the popularity of chess.

"Although chess is already popular in the community I want
this brain sport be more popular. Chess is known only in big
cities and is not so popular in the villages," Cholid Ghozali
said during the opening of the upgrading course for sports
journalists in Cipayung, West Java, on Wednesday.

Ghozali said that in Russia chess was one of the most popular
sports.

He said most of the top chess players come from Russia because
good players there could make money out of it.

"In Russia, the teaching of chess starts from 10-years old and
they are provided with good facilities. Discipline in chess is
very strict in Russia and this applies to all players including
grandmasters," Ghozali said.

Ghozali said Indonesia had potentially good players but that
they lack discipline and facilities.

"If only discipline is applied, I am optimistic we can produce
more grandmasters to replace their elders," he said.

The association's secretary, Jamal Jamil, said Wednesday
that discipline was now being applied to young Indonesian chess
players.

"We are now applying strict discipline as many young players
lack this and often skip classes which later leads to negligence
in studying the sport. In Russia, discipline is so strict that
sanctions are given to those who skip any part of the courses,"
Jamal said.

Ghozali said one way to popularize chess was to provide
accurate news which benefits not only chess enthusiasts but the
general public too.

"What I mean by accurate news is the correct reporting of
competitions. I have observed that there are many mistakes such
as the wrong moves being reported, and this puzzles the readers,"
Ghozali said.

The three-day upgrading course was attended by 24 journalists
from the print and electronic media. The journalists were given
intensive training by chess experts Jamal, Harry Djauhari, Mukmin
Penggabean and Hendry Jamal.

All the experts are national masters and international
referees.

The course closed on Thursday with a five-session tournament
among the journalists.

Bad experience

Meanwhile, Grandmaster Utut Adianto spoke of his troubles at a
recent tournament in Argentina.

He said his loss in the tournament was motivation for him to
improve.

"I only had four points and I lost because I lost confidence.
Nevertheless, this loss does not dismay make me. I will study
harder and hopefully regain my confidence," Utut said.

His loss in Argentina cost him five points off his 2,615 elo
rating.

Utut said to become a good chess player, one should learn from
losses, not only from victory.

"I lost confidence because I had to play for up to five hours.
Now I want to relax first and prepare thoroughly for the coming
tournaments." (lnt)