Four players tied at top in Japfa chess tourney
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Four players are tied for first place after four rounds of the men's master competition at the Japfa Chess Festival here.
Grand Master (GM) Edhi Handoko, International Master (IM) Dede Liu, FIDE Master (FM) Irwanto Sadikin and Suyud Hartoyo all won their matches on Friday to collect four points each, with the tournament to last another five rounds.
Edhi, playing black, capitalized on indifferent play by Eddy Tanjung to press ahead for his fourth win of the competition. He accomplished his victory in 37 moves.
"Employing a Tarrasch opening with white, he should have gone on the offensive. But he played defensively and looked to be looking simply for a draw," Edhi said of his opponent.
Under pressure, Eddy made a poor move with his rook, and seven moves later he surrendered with Edhi's pawn on the a-file impossible to stop from advancing and being queened.
Dede, also with black, needed only 27 moves using the English line to dispatch Aris TLS. Dede, who is returning to competition after four months, capitalized on a one-pawn advantage to force his opponent to abandon play.
In another game, Suyud used a two-pawn advantage to pound Bing Sarjono into submission.
On another board, Sukanda, a relative unknown from West Kalimantan, ended up regretting his decision to reject an offered draw from Irwanto, who was worried about running out of time.
Sukanda, who was at the time optimistic about his position, opted to continue the battle only to lose the game in a blistering counterattack.
About 200 players are taking part in the men's master competition. There are cash prizes on offer and the top two finishers will have the chance to make the national team for the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
Trailing the four players tied for first are nine players with 3.5 points each, including two members of the national junior team: Susanto Megaranto and Andrean Susilodinata.
In Friday's action, Susanto, 16, sacrificed a pawn against Eko Supriyanto to give himself more room to maneuver. The move paid off as he eventually broke down Eko's resistance to take the win.
Andrean, 12, agreed to a draw in his game against Ricky Rismanto.
In the women's master competition, in which the top two finishers will also get the chance to make the national team, Yulianti Tjindarbumi and Ai Zakiah are joint-leaders with 4.5 points after five rounds.
Yulianti drew with Neiko Rasaki on Friday while 2002 national champion Ai, who failed to turn up at the final of the Gunadarma Chess League last week, defeated Sulung Wahyuningsih.