Maria suffers first loss

JAKARTA (JP): Breaking the time limit, Maria Lucia, Indonesia's 1991 Asian Junior Chess Champion, was declared the loser by international judge Mukmin Panggabean in a game against Georgian grandmaster Nana Alexandria in their first duel in Surabaya on Friday.

Maria's time flag fell just as she was about to make her 40th move, shifting her king to h8 in response to Nana moving her queen to d4. In a chess duel, each side has to complete 40 moves within two hours before an additional hour is granted to finish the game. Maria has to play Nana in three other matches yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Maria was actually in the better position when her time ran out. This kind of failure shows Maria's lack of professionalism, experience and composure, a problem which also characterized Upi Darmayana Tamin's earlier loss to Nana in Jakarta on June 9. Upi is projected by the Indonesian Chess Association to be the first Indonesian woman to earn a grandmaster title. (arf)