Indonesian Cerdas assured of gold in Bled
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After having rested for two games, Cerdas Barus came out for apparently a double victory in Indonesia's tie against Wales in the penultimate round of the Chess Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia, on Friday.
Not only did Indonesia beat Wales 3-0, but Cerdas was also assured of a gold medal as the best scoring player on board three, according to team official Kristianus Liem on Saturday.
Cerdas contributed one of three points Indonesia chalked up. The other team winners included Susanto Megaranto and Irwanto Sadikin. The only loss was suffered by Ivan Situru.
"Cerdas, who has scored a Grand Master (GM) norm three times, has collected 8.5 points from ten rounds," Kristianus said in a release.
With the tournament having one round to spare, Cerdas has remained unbeaten, winning seven times and drawing three times.
His last win came at the expense of Richard Dineley of Wales. The two players were involved in 42 moves of the Benko Gambit game before Cerdas forced his opponent to give up.
Irwanto managed to create a free pawn on the d-file, which turned to be the deciding armor in his Benoni 42-move game win over Francis Reyner.
Susanto Megaranto opted for a French Defense in his game against Richard Jones. The game lasted for 30 moves before Susanto sealed it for his win.
Ivan lost to Leighton Williams, which was his seventh defeat during his Bled performance.
The win earned Indonesia an overall 27 points and placed it in 57th position on the provisional standings.
Meanwhile, top two teams Russia and Hungary had to be content with a 2-2 draw against Israel and Armenia respectively.
The results did not change the standings with Russia leading Hungary by two points.
China stunned Croatia 3-1 to move back to fourth behind Georgia.
China has also proven a strong force in the women's division, taking over at the top with 27 points. Following behind are Russia, Georgia, Poland and Vietnam.
After an off-day on Saturday, the tournament, which features 141 teams from 139 countries, resumes to play the final round of the 14-round competition on Sunday with Indonesia being paired against Turkmenistan.