Psychologists needed to help young chess players

Psychologists needed to help young chess players

JAKARTA (JP): Young Indonesian chess players need to work with
psychologists to help them overcome the mental blocks preventing
their continued development, an official said on Wednesday.

"A psychologist is needed to counsel the young players, who
sometimes underestimate their opponents and play carelessly. This
leads to their defeat," the secretary-general of the Indonesian
Chess Association (Percasi), Djamil Djamal, told The Jakarta
Post.

"Percasi Master (MP) Susanto Megaranto, for example, has
tended to underestimate his opponents since beating GM (Grand
Master) Ruben Gunawan," Djamil said on the sidelines of the grand
final of the chess tournament sponsored by the Ibis chain of
hotels.

Djamil said such problems had to be overcome if young players
were to reach their full potential.

"They also need to participate in more international chess
tournaments to gain more experience," he said.

Djamil said the five-member teams that will take part in the
biennial Chess Olympics in Istanbul hoped to improve Indonesia's
rankings in the chess world. Currently, the women's team is
ranked 11th and the men's team 44th.

Indonesia will send to the event GM Utut Ardianto, GM Ruben
Gunawan, GM Eddy Handoko, International Master (IM) Deddy
Yuswanto, IM Cerdas Barus and FIDE Master (FM) Hamdani Rudin on
the men's side. For the women's event, Indonesia will be
represented by IM Upik Darmayana Tamin, National Master (NM) Ai
Zakiah, NM Yenny Riayamien and NM Evi Lindiawati.

Djamil also said Percasi was studying the possibility of
hosting the Chess Olympics sometime in the future.

"Our rough calculations show it requires some US$5 million (to
host the event). I don't think we can come up with the money in
our current condition. Perhaps 10 years from now," he said.

Ibis chess

Meanwhile, five finalists -- who qualified in earlier rounds
that began on Oct. 9 -- are competing in the grand final of the
Ibis-sponsored tournament.

The finalists are Ali Al Rasyid, Kahirun, Kiu Sen, Roy Han and
Sugianto.

The grand final began on Wednesday morning with a rapid-chess
exhibition between three of the finalists, two Ibis executives
and Utut. Roy and Kahirun did not take part in this opening
exhibition.

All five finalists will meet each other in a Swiss round-robin
tournament to decide the winner.

"We started the tournament last year and expect to hold it on
an annual basis. We will hold it quarterly if possible," the
regional general manager of the Ibis hotels in Greater Jakarta,
Gerard Gillouet, said.

Meanwhile, Utut said Indonesia had many good young chess
players but lacked sponsors.

"On behalf of chess players and the chess community, I thank
the Ibis chain of hotels for holding the tournament. It's a good
move because chess is a cheap sport as it doesn't require
expensive equipment or a lot of space," he said. (nvn)