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)