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)