Chess star Susanto beats Hoang

Chess star Susanto beats Hoang

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Local chess star IM Susanto Megaranto, the youngest player in
the Makita-Lakoni International Grand Master Chess Tournament,
enjoyed a stunning defeat of IM Hoang Thanh Trang of Vietnam of
the opening round of the event here on Monday.

Susanto, 16, shrugged off the pressure early in the game to
launch a punishing counterattack against Hoang, 24, for a victory
that will undoubtedly give him a boost for the rest of the
tournament and in his race for a GM norm.

The Makita event features six competitors, three Indonesian
men and three foreign women, with total cash prizes of US$12,500
on offer.

In the other two pairings on Monday, GM Utut Adianto and IM
Danny Juswanto, both of whom are Susanto's mentors, agreed to a
draw in an all-Indonesian match, as did GM Zhu Chen and GM
Antoaneta Stefanova.

"I'm glad with the win," Susanto said, adding that it was a
positive development ahead of his next game against Stefanova.

Each of the six players will face off against each other
twice.

The win was a surprise given that Susanto, who accepted
Hoang's sacrifice of a pawn in a Queen's Gambit game, had been
under heavy pressure early in the game.

His buildup looked being cramped with most of his major pieces
remaining on the first line of the board, while Hoang, the 2000
Asian women's champion and 21st in the world rankings, had her
pieces in an attacking position.

Chess observers following the game agreed that defeat for
Susanto should have been imminent.

But Susanto, who is renowned for his positional repertoire,
saw the vulnerability in Hoang's position and began to counter,
wresting control of the game after about 30 moves.

"Her position was too exposed and I launched a counterattack
with queen, knight and rook, assisted by the bishop through the
king's side," Susanto said.

The attack forced Hoang into submission over the next 20 moves
after the Vietnamese saw that either her queen would be lost or
her king would be checkmated.

The win should provide a boost in Susanto's race for a GM
norm. A player needs to win at least three GM norms in different
events before receiving a full GM title.

Susanto won his first GM norm during the Southeast Asian (SEA)
Games in December, where he finished second behind eventual gold
medalist Utut Adianto.

Hoang, who helped the Vietnamese female team win the gold
medal at the SEA Games, is also pursuing her GM title, requiring
just one GM norm victory after winning two in Budapest.

Danny, with white, and Utut played only 20 moves before
agreeing to a draw.

And in the third match, Zhu swung her attack to the king's
side of Stefanova's defense but saw no breakthrough, and the two
players agreed to a draw after 45 moves.