Coach upbeat on RI woman grandmaster

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)