Kosteniuk vying for world championship title
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After ending up just one step shy of this year's world chess championship title, Alexandra Kosteniuk is looking ahead to 2003 with the mindset that it will be her turn.
"I'd like to come again and try harder than ever to win the title," Sasha, as the 18-year-old Russian women's grand master is more popularly known, told reporters here on Monday.
At the 2002 World Championship, staged on her own turf, an underrated Sasha beat the odds to reach the final only to lose out to eventual champion Zhu Chen of China.
The Kremlin meeting has also seen a new champion in the men's category after GM Ruslan Ponomariov upset his Ukraine compatriot Vassily Ivanchuk in the finals.
The 2003 Championship will be held in London. FIDE, the body that governs international chess, has not released the official dates but the event is likely to stage its preliminary stages at the end of 2002 with the finals to be held early 2003.
The 2002 finals was wrapped up after a tight battle between Sasha and Zhu. The two players drew twice, 2-2 in the classical games and 1-1 in the rapid games. Zhu then proved stronger in the blitz games, beating her rival 2-0.
Sasha said she was far from being complacent about her current status as world runnerup.
"I have to come back to see if I can fare better," she said during a visit to PT. Japfa Osi Food Industries in Tangerang, about 20 kilometers west of Jakarta.
She expected the Chinese legionnaires, led by incumbent champion Zhu, would remain the contenders to beat.
With her mother Natalia, she stopped over at the company site before flying to Bali for a two-day vacation.
Sasha has been an attraction in the world of chess, thanks to her good looks. During her Indonesian tour she attracted the spotlight of the local media.
Kristianus Liem, from the Indonesian Chess Association, who acted as the liaison officer, said that the Russian grand Master had hardly had time to rest due to the number of interview requests.
Monday was no exception. A large number of media, both print and television reporters, accompanied her during the out-of-town trip.
Sasha, whose elo-rating is 2469, showed her chess credentials by emerging the victor in the six-day Japfa Chess Match here over the weekend.
She stream-rolled over three Indonesian challengers -- Andrean Susilodinata, Tirta Chandra and Susanto Megaranto -- with a 2-0 win over each of them.