Indonesia names Olympic Chess team

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia named yesterday six male chess players for the 32rd Chess Olympiad in Yerevan, Armenia, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 3 this year.

The team roster was completed after four players -- Ivan Jonathan Situru, Salor Sitanggang, Cerdas Barus and Danny Yuswanto -- secured their places in a national selection wound up here yesterday.

The country's best player grandmaster Utut Adianto and second best grandmaster Edhi Handoko were exempted from the selection and will lead Indonesia's charge in Yerevan.

Given their performances and high elo ratings, they were not required to undergo the selection process, according to the association deputy chairman Cholid Gozali.

Ruben Gunawan, who fared better than the four at the just concluded BNI international chess tournament here, surprisingly will not be joining the team. Ruben finished fourth and secured his first qualification for a grandmaster title in the tournament.

Secretary-general of the Indonesian Chess Association Djamil Djamal told The Jakarta Post yesterday that Ruben opted out of the Olympiad because he wanted to focus on his education. "He wants to complete his studies which he has long neglected," Djamal said.

The association called up 12 players for the nine-round national selection, but only 10 came in. Salor finished first, Ivan second, Danny third and Cerdas fourth.

Gozali said that the association would also send four female chess players to Armenia. They are Upi Darmayana Tamin, Lisa Karlina Lumongdong, Maria Ratna Lucia and Lindri Yuni Wijayanti. The women required no selection process because performance-wise they are currently the best female chess players Indonesia has.

In the last Chess Olympiad in Moscow two years ago, the Indonesian men's team finished 28th and its women's team 23rd. Cholid expressed his hope that they could improve their ranks and make it into the top 20. (arf)