Hamdani, Antonio draw in Bali

JAKARTA (JP): NM Hamdani Rudin showed both poise and skill when he drew with GM Rogelio Antonio of the Philippines in the fifth round of the Bali Jeff-RCA Grandmaster Chess Tournament Wednesday.

Hamdani secured the draw on the 16th move through a Nimzo Indian opening. It meant Antonio moved on to four Victory Points (VP) and Hamdani on to 3.5 VP.

GM Edhi Handoko is also on four VP after beating NM Kifly Tunasly. Kifly has lost all five of his matches.

Edhi and Antonio lead the tournament.

In other matches, IM Salor Sitanggang made the biggest upset by inflicting a second defeat on GM Ardiansyah on the 45th move after a Queen's Gambit opening. The latter's first lost was in the third round to NM Tommy Suprianto.

"I played bad. But I hope to improve my performance in the remaining matches," Salor said.

Other results:

IM Cerdas Barus vs NM Tommy Supriyanto 1-0, NM Firdaus Maksum vs IM Nasib Ginting 1/2-1/2, IM Danny Juswanto vs FM Irwanto 1/2- 1/2, IM Nelson Mariano vs IM Ruben Gunawan 1/2-1/2, IM Bobby Kurniawan vs IM Tu Hoang Thong 1/2-1/2.

Rankings: Antonio and Edhi 4.0 VP, Cerdas 3.5 VP, Ardiansyah, Nasib, Dany, Irwanto, Bobby and Hoang Thong 2.5 VP, Maksum and Mariano 2.0 VP, Salor and Tommy 1.5 VP. (lnt)