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)