Gunadarma invites seven Grand Masters

Gunadarma invites seven Grand Masters

JAKARTA (JP): The University of Gunadarma has invited seven
Grand Masters (GMs) to take part in the Wotulo Memorial Cup chess
tournament to be held here from March 20 to March 31.

"The organizing committee has invited Wu Shao Bin of
Singapore, Villamayor Bong of the Philippines, Dao Thien Hai of
Vietnam, Zaw Winlay of Myanmar, Perry Schaner of Australia and
Ljubojevic Ljobojeve of Yugoslavia," the vice chairman of the
Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi), Bunawan, was quoted by
Antara news agency as saying on Friday.

"Meanwhile, Indonesia will field International Masters (IMs)
Denny Yuswanto, Cerdas Barus, Awam Wahono and Dede Liu. They
grabbed the Asian students' title late last year representing the
university," he said.

Separately, the agency quoted chess observer Kristianus Liem
as saying the event was an opportunity for Indonesia to secure
Grand Master titles for more of its players.

"The world chess governing body FIDE has classified the event
as category IX, which allows players with IM titles to be
promoted to GM provided they can meet certain percentages," he
said.

"Indonesia only has a limited number of GMs, such as Utut
Adianto, Ardiansyah, Eddi Handoko and Ruben Gunawan.

"Indonesia still lags behind China and India in chess, and is
equal only to the Philippines. Having more GMs will give mean
competition for our chess players," he said. (nvn)