Irene leads RI against S'pore in chess meet

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Irene Kharisma, who finished ninth in the girls' U-12 category at the 2003 World Chess Championships, will lead Indonesia's youth team in a three-way chess matchup against Singapore starting on Saturday.

Irene will be paired against To Li Cheng, the 2003 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) girls' U-12 champion.

The other two pairings will pit Samuel Siahaan and Olrenzo Johan of Indonesia against Terry Chua and Graham Chua of Singapore, respectively.

Samuel was the 2002 national champion in the boys' U-10 while Olrenzo was the 2003 champion. Terry Chua was 2003 ASEAN champion in the boys' U-10 while Graham was champion in the U-8 category.

The Singaporean youngsters will be led by their coach International Master (IM) Rico Mascarinas of the Philippines.

The contest will coincide with the opening of the Utut Adianto Chess School II at Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta.

Four matches -- two normal chess and two rapid chess -- will be played over two days.

The organizers said that it would be a match to highlight the young generation of chess from the two countries.

"We have chosen Singapore's players as our opponents because Singapore has been making rapid progress in chess development in the past five years," Eka Putra Wirya, the chairman of the organizing committee, said.

For Irene, the matches will be a warmup ahead of her series against the world's number two player Sopiko Guramavilli of Georgia scheduled for July 12-16 in Jakarta.