Indonesia up to 28th in world chess stand
Indonesia up to 28th in world chess stand
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia could at least take a sigh of relief
when its men's team eclipsed minnow Bangladesh 3.5-0.5 at the end
of the Chess Olympics in Moscow on Thursday, jacking up its world
ranking from 40 to 28.
The bad tiding, however, was that the Indonesian women's team
was relegated from 18th place to 26th following a 1.5 - 1.5 tie
with Bosnia Herzegovina on the closing day.
Playing with his favorite Queen Gambit opening at the first
board, Indonesia's number one, Grand Master Utut Adianto,
outsmarted Bangladeshi Grand Master Murshed at the 40th move.
However, Grand Master Eddy Handoko, in a marathon game lasting
70 moves with the English opening at the second board, seemed to
have his wits considerably depleted so that he quickly accepted a
draw proposed by Master International Rahman.
The men's team's clogged pace was accelerated when Master
international Nasib Ginting, with the Queen Gambit opening at the
third board, and Ivan Jonathan Situru, embarking on the Tromposky
opening, easily stopped their opponents, master internationals
Revat and Al Rakib, at the 33rd and 30th moves respectively.
The men's team collected a total of 31 victory points, Djamil
Djamal, the secretary general of the Indonesian Chess Association
(Percasi) said from Moscow.
As it was clear from the onset, the Russia-A men's team won
the overall title by carding 37.5 points. The Russia-B team
finished third tied with England. They both garnered a total of
34.5 points each. Bosnia was second with 35 points.
"It was really a tough competition. We're proud to get it
through," world number one Garry Kasparov, in an interview with
Russia's state television, commented on the just concluded
Olympics which saw the world chess body FIDE reelect its
president, Filipino Florencio Campomanes.
In a rather contrasting style, the Indonesian women's team,
which showed a burning zeal in pounding Argentina 2.5-1.5 the day
before, strangely showed either a lack of steam or an smugness.
They surprisingly accepted all Bosnian proposals to end the
games in draws without first consulting their captain, Bunawan.
Women master internationals Lisa Lumongdong, Maria Ratna and
Lindri Juni, as if playing just to kill time while waiting for
their boyfriends, quickly agreed on the Bosnian side's offer to
notch an equal ending just at the 9th move, the 8th move and the
10th move respectively.
With this poor result, the women's team recorded a total of
22.5 points, exactly the same score they got in the Chess
Olympics in Manila, the Phillipines, two year ago.
The chess queen's title went to the Georgian women's team,
which accumulated 32 points, followed by Hungary (31 points).
Rumania and China both finished third each with 27 points. (arf)