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)