Indonesia vying for two golds at ASEAN chess

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Sixteen Indonesian junior chess players are set for the 3rd Southeast Asian Age-Group Chess Championships in Singapore with team officials saying they would be simply looking for two golds.

"Talking about target I must admit there will be tough going for the lads given strong opposition from Vietnam," Eka Putra Wirya, the executive director of the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi), told reporters here on Friday.

Eka recalled the last season of the same event in Kuala Lumpur, where Vietnam completely dominated the field, bringing home nine golds against Indonesia's two.

With Vietnam expected to continue its domination, the Indonesian team has appeared to be modest if not pessimistic about the prospect.

"Vietnam will come to the tournament with 55 players. It speaks itself about how it has developed its chess. But we are by no means pessimistic about our prospect.

"Winning two golds will be a good achievement for us," Eka said. But he refused to single out the players he expected to run hot.

The tournament, which will feature 228 athletes from seven countries, will run from June 9 to 14.

The team, which comprises ten boys and six girls, will be led by manager Harbiansyah Hanafiah, accompanied by Grand Master (GM) Utut Adianto.

The boys are Rezon Yanuar (Under 8 category), Samuel Siahaan, Randy Budi Wicaksono, Michael Limantara, Reza Azhari (U-10), Kaisar Jenius Hakiki (U-12), Aris Hariyanto, Welldan Bramantya (U-14), Taufik Halay (U-16), and Hadi Supriyanto (U-18).

The girls are Gerhana Kartina (U-10), Irene Kharisma Sukandar (U-12), Amalia Andra (U-14), Sulung Wahyuningsih, Norasa Verdia (U-16), Suhariyani (U-18).

Gerhana was one of the winning players last year. She was then competing in the U-8 category. The other Indonesian gold medalist was Tirta Chandra, who is not among this year's team.