Dede hopes to grab GM Norm title

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's young and hopeful chess player, International Master (MI) Dede Liu, expressed hope of being able to grab the Grand Master (GM) Norm title at the Wotulo Memorial International Grand Master Chess Tournament this week.

"I have prepared myself for more than two months and I'm very eager to compete in the event especially because of the presence of seven foreign GMs," said Dede, whose elo rating is 2378 as quoted by Antara.

Dede must work hard to overcome seven GMs; Krunoslav Hulak of Croatia with an elo rating of 2546, Stefan Djuric of Yugoslavia (2465), Normunds Miezis of Latvia (2601), Dashzeveg Sharavdorj of Mongolia (2441), Zaw Win Lay of Myanmar (2537), Darryl Johansen of Australia (2520) and Krishnan Sasikiran of India (2601) at the March 11 - to March 22 event at the Clarion Golden Hotel, Central Jakarta.

"I have defeated Winlay and met Sharavdorj four times with three draws and one win. But I bowed out to two other Super GMs; Sasikiran and Miezis," he said.

Sasikiran has been known as a young talented player and is expected to replace senior world champion Viswan Anand in the future.

Besides the seven players, Dede also faces tough challenges from teammates at the event. They are FIDE Master Awam Wahono (2401), Cecep Kosasih (2420), Joseph Majella (2321) and Eko Supriyono ( 2252).

The Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) Djamil Djamal said that the association was hoping that Indonesia's national masters would be able to improve their performances especially in facing the seven GMs in the category IX event.

Percasi is grooming thousands of chess players but so far it has only managed six GMs, which is too small for a country whose population is 200 million.

The organization must follow regulations set by the international chess body FIDE by having at least five GMs in the category IX event in order to compete for a new GM Norm player. (yan)