Percasi sorting out young players for Dream Team II
Percasi sorting out young players for Dream Team II
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) is set to hold the
National Junior Grand Final next month to net young talent for
the "Dream Team II", an official announced on Wednesday.
The tournament, which will be held in Bekasi, an eastern
suburb of Jakarta, from Feb. 16 to Feb. 19, will bring together
all top five players from the preceding five circuits in five
cities -- Jakarta, Medan, Surabaya, Banjarmasin and Bandung.
The participants are divided by gender and two age groups --
10-14 and 15-18.
"We will be on the lookout for young talent. We are expecting
a shortlist of ten candidates," Hendry Jamal, from the organizing
committee, told The Jakarta Post at the association's office in
Central Jakarta.
The candidates will undergo intensive training at Utut Adianto
Chess School (SCUA) in Bekasi for a few months before being
recruited into a permanent team, called Dream Team II.
The team is to assume a preparatory role for Dream Team I,
which has represented Indonesian at many international and
regional junior tournaments.
Dream Team I comprises Tirta Chandra, Taufik Halay, Susanto
Megaranto and Andrean Susilodinata. Their average age of all the
members combined is 14 years old.
Susanto and Andrean finished in the top five of their
respective age group at the 2001 Youth World Chess Championship
in Spain, while Tirta's latest achievement was winning the ASEAN
Cup in Kuala Lumpur last December.
The four have been assured of places for the February
tournament, along with the other 11 players as wild card
recipients. Among those who will enter the tournament through the
back door include Boy Reinhard, Surya Wahyudi and Ferry
Ferdiansyah, the three being winners at last year's National
Championship in Bali.
In total there will be 90 competitors. Seventy-five of them
will come from the five circuits, each with 25 players. A total
of Rp 6 million (US$576) in cash prizes will be on offer.
Hendry did not rule out the possibility that Dream Team I
members will dominate the competition, thus preventing potential
youngsters from taking trophies and chances of being made Dream
Team candidates.
"To assess their level of skill we will not judge simply by
their result. As long as they do not drop too far in the
standings, say fourth at the worst, they will still impress the
scouting team," he said.
The tournament has been moved from the formerly designated
host town Indramayu, a West Java town about 180 kilometers east
of here, because the local chess authority was unable to provide
the required facilities.
The Bekasi organizers will remain with the old competition
system, in which a player is given 90 minutes of thinking time.
The new rules of playing time allows an increment of 20 seconds
per move.