Junior chess tourney begins

JAKARTA (JP): Twenty-eight youths, mostly university students from Jakarta whose age is below 30, kicked off their first matches of the second Ibis chess tournament at Ibis hotel in Slipi, West Jakarta.

The tournament, which offered a total of Rp 27 million (US$3,200), was held in seven matches according to the FIDE Swiss system. Each player is given one hour to complete their moves.

The hotel's sales and promotion manager, S. Rolita Lais, said the three-day tournament was aimed at increasing the number of local competitions in a bid to attract young people to play chess.

The tournament was also held at the same time in other Ibis hotels in Kemayoran and Mangga Dua, while in Cikarang, in Menteng and in the Arcadia hotel it will start on Thursday, she said.

Eight winners from each hotel will be given a rare opportunity to challenge Indonesian top player Grand Master Utut Adianto prior to the grand final, which will start from Oct. 18 to Oct. 20.

Ramli from Jakarta-based Bina Nusantara university said that he would continue pursuing the masters title in another event. Ramli, who finished first in the tournament at Ibis Cikarang hotel last year, was sharpening his skills here.

"There is a National Master in my hometown in Cilacap, Central Java. I want to be just like him. He used his initiative to learn how to play chess by reading books. Queen Gambit is my favorite opening and I learnt it from book," he said. (ivy)