Irene on winning streak in Greece
Irene on winning streak in Greece
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A win in the eighth round put Irene Kharisma Sukandar closer to a
place in the top ten the 11-year-old Indonesian is aiming at the
ongoing World Youth Chess Championships in Halkidiki, Greece.
Irene, who played the black pieces, toppled Selina Khoo, the
world's number nine from England, in 45 moves in their eighth
round match in the girls' under-12 category competition on
Thursday, reports said.
The win, her second in a row or fourth in as many matches,
gave Irene an overall 5.5 points and a place between fifth and
15th in the provisional rankings among 85 players from 55
countries.
Leader Ding Yixin of China was still in her perch with an
eighth round win over Alena Tairova of Russia for an overall 7.5
points.
Sopiko Guramishvili of Georgia, who defeated Maya Gvilava of
Russia, followed in second place on 7 points. Half a point behind
were defending champion Tan Zhongyi of China and Anastasia Savina
of Russia. Both stopped Hazel Smith of Canada and Anastasia
Bodnaruk of Russia respectively.
Kristianus Liem, Indonesia's team manager, said that entering
the middle of the game, typically aggressive Irene was the first
to throw the gauntlet against Khoo by a provoking march of f-
square pawns on move 15th and 16th.
"Five moves later, Selina was unable to read through the
weaknesses in the black's position and overlooked 21.Qc3 followed
by 22.d4, which would have given her better position," Kristianus
said.
A well-posted knight and a sacrifice of pawn nearing to the
end helped Irene control her opponent by her commanding play on
the king's side.
Khoo fell to a string of weak maneuver with the last and
seemingly costly move being her decision to let go her only left
defending armor in a knight on move 39.
"The consequence was that her already weathering king's side
became the target of bombardment. That caused white to lose the
queen and Selina surrendered two moves later," Kristianus said.
Irene, with white pieces, is paired against Ana Guadamuro
Torrente of Spain in the ninth round on Friday.
Selina Khoo vs Irene Kharisma Sukandar:
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nc3 Bc5 4.d3 h6 5.a3 Nf6 6.f4 exf4
7.Bxf4 d6 8.Nf3 Nh5 9.Bd2 Bg4 10.Bb5 a6 11.Bxc6+ bxc6
12.Qe2 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.Qxe3 Rb8 15.Rb1 f5 16.0-0
f4?! 17.Qd4 Be6 18.e5 d5 19.Na4 Qe7 20.Nc5 Rb6 21.b4
g5 22.Nd2? Ng7 23.a4 Nf5 24.Qf2 Ne3 25.Rfc1 Bf5 26.a5
Rbb8 27.Nxa6 Ra8 28.Nc5 Qxe5 29.Nf3 Qf6 30.c3 Qg6
31.Ne5 Qg7 32.Nxc6 Qh7 33.Qd2 h5 34.Nd4? h4 35.Nde6?
Rf6 36.Nxg5 Qg7 37.Nf3 h3 38.Nh4 hxg2 39.Nxf5= Rxf5
40.Qe2 Qh6 41.Kf2?? Qh4+ 42.Kg1 Rh5 43.Qxh5 Qxh5
44.Rb2 f3 45.Kf2 Re8 0-1