Coach upbeat on RI woman grandmaster

JAKARTA (JP): A Russian chess coach said he was confident Indonesia could produce a woman Grandmaster because of the rising standard among the country's women players.

"I will try hard to train Indonesian chess players to become Grandmasters but my first job is to produce the first woman GM," Nikolai Andrianov said Thursday.

Nikolai was hired by the Indonesian Chess Association to train both women and junior chess players. He possesses a degree in chess from Moscow University.

Nikolai also trained in Greece for six years and helped one of Indonesia's leading female players, IM Lindri Widjajanti, win the Asian zone tournament in 1993.

He further said that since Indonesia has many players with great potential it would not be difficult to train a pool of good players.

"I admire many of your players who have both talent and good technique. The only weakness is they lack a sophisticated playing strategy," Nikolai said.

According to him, to become a good chess player, one should use a computer and read books and magazines on the subject.

He admired Utut Adianto and said he was a brilliant player. But he observed there are many talented young players at the Enerpac chess schools in Jakarta and Surabaya.

"If the talented young players are trained well, there is always a possibility that one of them will emerge with the same caliber as Utut. The most important thing is the chess players need good training and that's what I am here for," Antara quoted Nikolai as saying. (lnt)