Chess prodigy goes to Greece before SEAG

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Eleven-year-old Irene Kharisma Sukandar will take on a timely, potentially testing warm-up field ahead of the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games when she takes part in the 2003 World Youth Chess Championships in Greece.

Irene is the youngest member of the Indonesian sporting delegation to the SEA Games in December, and her Greek run should provide her with a test of her skills prior to her departure to Vietnam.

The championships, which offer competitions in the U-10, U-12, U-14, U-16 and U-18 boys and girls categories, will be held from Oct. 23 through Nov. 2 at the Athos Palace and Pallini Beach Hotels in the holiday resort of Kallithea, Halkidiki.

Irene, twice national champion in her age category, will compete in the U-12. The team is optimistic she could finish within the top ten.

"Irene is currently the strongest (girls' junior) player we have. We are optimistic she can take a top ten place in Greece," team manager Eka Putra Wirya said when contacted by The Jakarta Post here on Wednesday.

Kristianus Liem, the director of the Utut Adianto Chess School, where Irene has trained, said that they had imposed an intensive training regime on the protege for two weeks.

"In the last three days, she was trained by Utut (Adianto) himself," Kristianus said. Utut is Indonesia's number one chess grand master, and will represent Indonesia at the World Championships in the Netherlands in November.

"The training with Utut aimed more at developing her mental attitude. She should now be well-prepared for the tournament," Kristianus said.

From the tournament website, the U-12 girls' competition lists 91 players, including Chinese Tan Zhongyi, last year's winner and 2001 winner in the U-10 category.

The tournament, which will be played over 11 rounds, sees an overall 593 players in the boys' and 404 players in the girls' category, from 79 countries.

In last year's tournament, also in Greece, Andrean Susilodinata, who competed in the boys' U-12, fell out of the top ten in the final standings.