RI beats Turkmenistan in final round in Bled

RI beats Turkmenistan in final round in Bled

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia beat Turkmenistan 3-1 in the final round of the Chess
Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia, on Sunday, said an official of the
Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi).

Eka Putra Wirya, who is Percasi's executive chairman, said
that the Indonesian team achieved the victory through Ivan
Situru, Susanto Megaranto and Irwanto Sadikin, while Awam Wahono
lost to his opponent.

Even though the team was deprived of the country's number one
player, Utut Adianto, it earned an overall 30 points, and
according to Eka, placed it between 46th and 51st in the final
standings.

Utut, who won a gold in Turkey two years ago, opted to play as
a representative from Asia in the Cap d'Agde in France, which ran
at the same time as the Olympiad.

Eka had said that he wanted the team to avoid a finish beyond
the 44th position, a ranking Indonesia could only chalk up in its
appearance in Turkey two years ago.

However, he said he was satisfied with the team's performance
this year.

"After unexpectedly losing to Iraq and tying with Zambia, the
team managed to win the last two games. This has virtually pushed
the team upward," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

"It shows they put on a fairly good performance. I'm
satisfied," he said.

While praising Cerdas Barus, who achieved his own success in
winning a gold as the best scoring player on board three, Eka
regretted the narrowly missed chance for the other two team
members to make a name for themselves.

"Susanto and Irwanto were just half a point shy of attaining
their International Master (IM) titles," he said.

Susanto defeated FIDE Master (FM) Annaberdiev Meilis in the
Turkmenistan tie, and Irwanto collected 6.5 points each from
eleven rounds. Irwanto defeated FM Ovezov Artek on the same day.

Cerdas, who did not play on Sunday, amassed 8.5 points from
ten rounds, winning seven and drawing three games. Eka said that
the collection of points had also earned the Jakarta-based player
a GM title.

The 2002 Chess Olympiad, which featured 141 teams from 139
countries, closed on Sunday.

Russia came out on top with 38.5 points followed by Hungary,
at just a point behind. Armenia, Georgia and China made the top
five rankings.

China won the women's division with 29.5 points, or half a
point above runner-up Russia. Poland, Georgia and Hungary
finished close behind.