RI junior chess team captures Merdeka Cup

RI junior chess team captures Merdeka Cup

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian team of four boys won the 17th
Merdeka Cup youth chess tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
which concluded Sunday.

The quartet of Susanto Megaranto, Tirta Chandra, Taufik Halay
and Hastomo, who are all 11 or 12 years old, assured themselves
of securing the coveted trophy after downing closest rival Johor
from Malaysia 3-1 in the final match.

Indonesian team manager Kristianus Liem said Susanto was the
toast of the team for giving it a morale-boosting win in the
first game. Susanto made short work of Koh Keng Wee, needing only
22 moves to put Indonesia 1-0 up.

Tirta scored a second point by beating Liew Kiat Siang. Taufik
and Hastomo managed only draws against their respective
opponents.

Johor trailed Indonesia by four points entering the final duel
and had to sweep all four games to snatch the trophy. But the
defeat on Sunday dropped Johor down to the fourth place overall,
behind Perak and defending champion Pulau Pinang.

The unbeaten Indonesian quartet, all students at Enerpac Chess
School, amassed 22.5 points to finish 4.5 points clear of Perak.
Pulau Pinang garnered 17.5 points, while Johor ended with 16.5.

Taufik, Susanto and Tirta also won gold medals for their
individual performances.

The Merdeka Cup was held to commemorate Malaysia's anniversary
of independence which fell on Monday. Seventy-four city teams
from Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia participated in the
tournament played over six rounds.

The Enerpac team was the only Indonesian representative in the
annual tournament. (lnt)