Chess chief vows to resign if team falters at Olympiad
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The already weakened Indonesian men's chess squad will compete in the upcoming Chess Olympiad without proper preparation, but Jeffrie Geovanie has vowed to quit his post as chairman of the national chess association (Percasi) if the team falters.
"If the Indonesian (men's) Chess Olympiad squad fails to improve their ranking from the previous event, I am ready to resign as the chairman of the national chess association," Jeffrie said during a media conference here on Monday.
Percasi will send five men and four women to the Chess Olympiad, which will take place from Oct. 14 to Oct. 31 in Calvia, Spain.
The men's team consists of Ruben Gunawan, Dede Liu, Susanto Megaranto, Taufik Halay and Tirta Chandra, while the women's team members are Norasa Verdiana, Irene Kharisma, Evi Lindiawati and Stefani Dian Cheri.
This will be the 17th time a men's team has participated in the event since Indonesia first took part in the Chess Olympiad in 1960. It will be the 10th appearance by an Indonesian women's team.
The men's team had its best performance in Dubai in 1986, when it finished 19th out of 108 countries. That team was led by Utut Adianto, then a rising star, who won a silver medal on board two.
The women's best performance was in Yerevan in 1996, when Maria Ratna Lucia and teammates finished 11th out of 74 participants.
The men have had their high points in the last two editions of the Chess Olympiad, with Utut winning a gold medal as the best player on board one in Istanbul in 2000, and Cerdas Barus emerging as the best player on board two in Bled, Slovenia, in 2002.
Despite the personal achievements of Utut and Cerdas, the team finished far down the overall rankings on both occasions. In Bled, they were 44th out of 136 teams.
Percasi is looking for a better showing in Spain, though those hopes took a blow when Utut opted out of the event.
The inclusion of three young players -- Susanto, Taufik and Tirta -- seems to indicate that the best the team can hope for is to gain some valuable international experience.
But Jeffrie, who took over the Percasi chairmanship last year, is adamant that the team will put on a better performance in Spain than it did in Slovenia. If it fails to do so, he said he was willing to give up his position with the association.
"I am not fooling around with my promise. I have even prepared a letter of resignation to sign. This is a sign of my responsibility in case of failure," he said.