Indonesia has little hope of winning Chess Olympiad

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After a high-flying performance with its junior team in Kuala Lumpur, the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) appears to have become indifferent ahead of the upcoming World Chess Olympiad.

The 2002 Olympiad will be staged in Bled, Slovenia, from Oct. 25 to Nov. 11. Percasi decided on Friday that five players would depart for the tournament.

Led by team manager Bunawan, who is also Percasi's chief in charge of research and development, the players include International Master (IM) Cerdas Barus, IM Ivan Situru, FIDE Master (FM) Awam Wahono, Andy Nurjabal and Susanto Megaranto.

Unlike its participation in the last Olympiad in Turkey, Percasi defied the selection process, with Eka Putra Wirya, Percasi's executive director, saying it was "a compromise among Percasi officials".

"Dissatisfaction automatically arises in any decision when we are up for a tournament. Those not included are likely to protest," Eka told The Jakarta Post after the organization's meeting here on Friday.

It appears that IM Danny Juswanto and Irwanto Sadikin were overlooked. Danny is regarded as the second best player after GM Utut Adianto while Irwanto proved his worth at the Wismilak International tournament in Surabaya in August by managing to win an IM norm.

Cerdas is the only member of the team who took part in the last edition of the tournament in Turkey in 2000. Ivan has Olympiad experience, but that was six years ago when it was held in Moscow in 1996.

"We decided to try young players. We are not preoccupied with a certain target. We will be simply competing and see if any of them can make the best of their effort," Eka said.

While being pessimistic about the team's performance against the world's powerhouses in chess, Percasi has high hopes on individual performance, especially on Cerdas and Susanto.

Cerdas will go to Bled, aiming to raise his current rating of 2456 to attain his grand master (GM) title.

Susanto, 15, will be seeking his second IM norm after his first at the Wismilak International tournament.

Susanto also steered the national junior team to third place behind China and Ukraine at the World Youth Chess Olympiad in Kuala Lumpur last month.

Indonesia, with team members of Utut, GM Edhi Handoko, GM Ruben Gunawan, IM Danny Juswanto and FM Hamdani Rudin, finished at a lowly 44th place in Turkey two years ago.