Fri, 12 May 2000

Four masters share JAPFA Open prize

JAKARTA (JP): Grand Master (GM) Super Jaan Ehlvest of Estonia, GM Darmen Sadvakasov of Kazakhstan, GM Normund Miezis of Latvia and International Master (IM) Bong Villamayor of the Philippines shared the top prize of US$10,500 at the JAPFA International Open 2000.

Ehlvest (2622), who finished eighth in the JAPFA Classic International tournament earlier this month, crushed the hopes of Indonesian IM Danny Juswanto after winning in the last game of the tournament, held at the Grand Bali Beach hotel in Sanur, Bali. Danny gave up after 43 moves with the English opening.

"I forced myself too much. I should not have been in such a rush to penetrate g6 in the 32th move. I was out of luck," he was quoted as saying by tournament spokesman Kristianus Liem in a news release.

Sadvakasov (2471) tied with GM Ian Rogers (Australia, 2562) in the 22th move with the Trompowsky Attack opening. Miezis (2486) beat India's second top player GM Dibyendu Barua (2555) in the 37th move with the English opening and Villamayor (2474) outclassed GM Alex Wojkiewicz (Poland, 2563). The four winners earned 7.5 Match Points (MP).

Eight players shared $5,296 in the fifth to 12th position. The players were Rogers, National Master (NM) Cecep Kosasih, IM Cerdas Barus, IM Krishnan Sasikiran (India), GM Darryl Johansen (Australia), GM Sergey Beshukov (Russia), GM Ruben Gunawan and GM Edhi Handoko.

Kosasih beat NM Sugeng Prayitno, Barus beat NM Yoseph Majella, Sasikiran defeated IM Salor Sitanggang, Johansen outshone FIDE Master (FM) Syarif Mahmud, Beshukov overcame Indonesia's veteran player GM Ardiansyah, Ruben beat FM Awam Wahono and Handoko outclassed FM Irwanto.

Two Indonesian chess players, Kosasih and NM Deny Sonjaya, earned their IM norm in the tournament, which was sponsored by agrifood company PT JAPFA Comfeed Indonesia Tbk.

The open tournament was closed on Thursday by chairman of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Chess Association Tjokorda Ngurah Agung Kusumayudha. The third series of the tournament, the JAPFA Chess league, will be held in Surabaya on Saturday. (ivy)