Indonesia fell to Georgia in Moscow Chess Olympiad

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian men's chess team on Wednesday fell 0.5-3.5 to a strong Georgian team in the seventh round of the 31st Chess Olympiad in Moscow.

The Indonesian women's team, on the other hand, finished the round in a contrasting style by beating Cuba 2-1, the Indonesian Chess Association announced yesterday.

One might attribute the loss to the absence of Grand Master Utut Adianto, currently Indonesia's number one, who was reportedly exhausted and could not be fielded.

Grand Master Eddy Handoko, who replaced Utut on the first board, though trying hard to defend, finally cracked under the powerful pressure of Grand Master Azmai Parashvilli, whose elo rating far exceeds his.

Parashvilli, who started the game with the Pirc opening, stopped Handoko at the 41st move.

The same fate was destined for international masters Jonathan Situru and Salor Sitanggang.

Situru bowed at the 48th move to Grand Master Georgadze, who also started with the Pirc opening.

Sitanggang could no longer move his king which was trapped at the 46th move by another Georgian grand master, Zeichik.

The only Indonesian player who managed to tie with strong Georgian players was Cerdas Barus. In a long drawn battle, Barus succeeded in forcing International Master Supa Tashvili to a draw at the 52nd move.

Indonesia's victory over Cuba in the women's team was nailed by international women masters Upi Dharmayana and Lindri Wijayanti.

Dharmayana and Lindri outwitted Y. Hernandez and her sister T. Hernandez at the 40th and 60th moves, with the popular Sicilia opening and the Ruy Lopez opening, respectively.

Another Indonesian female player, Maria Ratna who played brilliantly in the previous rounds was able to keep her pieces moving only until the 69th move. She was stopped by Cuban FIDE master Slometa in a game started with the Modern opening.

This result continues the almost regular wins and losses recorded by both the Indonesian men's and women's teams.

In the sixth round, it was the men's team which trashed Tunisia 3-1 while the women's team fell 1.5-2.5 to the strong Latvian team. (arf)