Indonesia's men earn tie, women lose in chess

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian men's chess players once again forged a 2-2 tie, this time against Finland, in the sixth round of the 34th Chess Olympics at the Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Center on Thursday.

Playing at the first table, Indonesia's top chess player Grand Master (GM) Utut Adianto put on display all his skills by capturing Olli Salmensuu's king in the 28th move.

On the second board, International Master (MI) Denny Juswanto failed to follow Utut's lead, falling to Mika Karttunen in the 33rd move.

MI Cerdas Barus settled for a draw with Heikki Kallio after 63 moves on the third board.

Another tie was earned by FIDE Master (MF) Rudin Hamdani who, agreed to a draw with Mikael Novro after 25 moves.

With their tie with Finland, Indonesia has 13.5 VPs so far in the Olympics. Germany continues to lead the men's event with 18.5 VPs.

The Indonesian women's team was less fortunate, losing to Turkmenistan 1-2.

Upi D. Tamim settled for a draw with M. Geldyeva after the 77th move.

Before agreeing to the draw, both players had one distressed pawn each, and Upi had a knight and Geldyeva a bishop.

Another draw was recorded when Ai Zakiah agreed with G. Atbashieva to end their match on the 84th move. The kings of each of the players were accompanied only by two pawns and one bishop.

Yenny Riayaningrum failed to earn another point for her team, suffering a decisive loss to M. Otezova in 39 moves.

The Indonesian women have collected 8.5 VPs in the event. China maintained its commanding lead in the women's event with 14 VPs.

The players had the day off on Friday and will resume play on Saturday. The Indonesian men will face Portugal and the women will square off against Bangladesh. (nvn)