Hamdani forces Nasib to a draw

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian NM Hamdani Rudin surprisingly forced counterpart IM Nasib Ginting to a draw in the fourth round of the Bali Jeff-RCA Grandmaster Chess Tournament on Tuesday.

Hamdani started with the Slavian opening and forced Nasib to a draw in the 40th move. The draw puts Hamdani in second place three Victory Points (VP) behind Filipino GM Rogelio Antonio who has 3.5 VP.

Hamdani was a member of the West Java team that won a gold medal at the 1996 National Games.

"This is the first time I have played in an international competition. I want to prove that I can also become a good chess player," Hamdani said.

Hamdani said he wanted to become a member of the Indonesian Chess Association team and get a monthly wage.

Hamdani was scheduled to play Antonio yesterday and was optimistic he could beat the Filipino.

"I met Antonio in Malaysia in 1989 during a rapid chess game. I won against him and this is a good advantage for me."

Antonio beat NM Zulkifli Tunasli in the 26th move.

IM Ruben Gunawan and GM Edhi Handoko also won. Ruben beat NM Danny Juswanto while Edhi won over IM Cerdas Barus.

Other results:

IM Salor Sitanggang vs IM Bobby Kurniawan 1/2-1/2, IM Tu Hoang Thong (Vietnam) vs IM Nelson Mariano (Philippines) 1/2-1/2, FM Irwanto vs NM Maksum Firdaus 1/2-1/2, NM Tommy Supriyanto vs GM Ardiansyah 1/2-1/2.

Rankings: Antonio 3.5 VP Hamdani and Ruben 3.0 VP Hoang Thong, Cerdas, Danny, Bobby, Nasib, and Irwanto 2.0 VP Nelson, Ardiansyah, Salor, Maksum and Tommy 1.5 VP Kifly 0 VP. (lnt)