RI chess teams do their best

JAKARTA (JP): Chairman of the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) Akbar Tanjung, believes Indonesia's chess teams did their best at the 31st Chess Olympics concluded on Dec. 17 in Moscow.

Compared to Indonesia's performance at the previous Chess Olympics in Manila two years ago, the men's team, finishing 28th in Moscow, was 12 places better, though it failed to meet Percasi's target of reaching the top 10. The women's team standing, however, dropped from 18 to 24.

Akbar believed this was the best they could do given that this time they had to compete with powerful national teams from the former Soviet republics, the sudden death of the father of women's ace player Lisa Karlina Lumongdong in the midst of the Olympics and the fact that Percasi did not prepare the teams for the Olympics, Antara reported on Sunday. (arf)