Indonesia beats Tunisia in Moscow Chess Olympiad
Indonesia beats Tunisia in Moscow Chess Olympiad
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian men's chess team on Tuesday
thrashed Tunisia 3-1 in the sixth round of the 31st Chess
Olympiad in Moscow.
But the win failed to inspire the Indonesian women's team
which bowed 1.5-2.5 to the strong Latvian team, the Indonesian
Chess Association announced yesterday.
"The men's team should have been able to win 4-0," said Djamil
Djamal, the association's secretary general.
Grand Master Utut Adianto, currently Indonesia's number one,
and international master Salor Sitanggang could have won had they
been able to maintain the solid defense and attack they developed
at the start.
In the dying minutes after a long drawn battle, weakened
stamina forced Utut and Salor to play to draws with their
Tunisian opponents, master international Kaabi and FIDE master
Dridi at the 61st move and the 68th move respectively.
But Indonesia then got a 3-1 win after Grand Master Eddy
Handoko defeated Amadi on the 42nd move and international master
Cerdas Barus beat Lawini on the 40th move.
For the men's team, which is seeded 42nd in the Olympiad, the
victory is part of their ups and downs. They fell 1-3 to Rumania
on Tuesday after managing to draw 2-2 with England the day
before.
In the seventh round which took place yesterday "Utut was
exhausted and asked for a rest," said Djamal. Hence, yesterday's
men's team, fighting against Georgia, was made up of Grand Master
Eddy Handoko and international masters Jonathan Situru, Salor
Sitanggang and Cerdas Barus.
As for the Indonesian women's team, international masters Upi
Darmayana and Maria Lucia could not do much as they lost their
matches on Tuesday when playing Safranska and Rause, two Latvian
women's grand masters whose elo ratings are far higher than
theirs.
But Lindri Widjajanti, a reserve for Lisa Lumongdong who went
home due to the sudden death of her father, prevented Latvia from
obliterating Indonesia after she drew with Voronova at the 49th
move.
The men's division sees a total of 124 teams in action. Eighty
countries are taking part in the women's division. The
championships are scheduled to be concluded on Dec. 17. (arf)