RI men tie, women win in Istanbul

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia men chess players only managed a draw, but the women won in their final matches Sunday at the 34th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul.

Playing without Grand Master (GM) Utut Adianto, whose elo rating is 2571, the men's team had to offer a 2.0-2.0 tie to Argentina. GM Edhi Handoko, with an elo rating of 2435, had to bow out to GM Daniel Campora in the 62nd move.

GM Ruben Gunawan, whose elo rating is 2503, managed to equal the match after he bested GM Alejandro Hoffman 1.0-0.0 in the 40th move.

International Master (MI) Danny Juswanto failed to score and lost 0.0-1.0 to MI Guillermo Soppe in the 48th move. Luckily MI Cerdas Barus equaled by defeating Fernando Bertona in the 63rd move.

Indonesia collected a total point of 30.0 VPs to finish in 44th place in the overall standing.

Russia won the Olympiad, which took place from Oct. 28 to Nov. 12, after scoring 38.0 VPs followed by Germany with 37.0 VPs and Hungary with 35.5 VPs.

Russian Alexander Morozevich also received the Best Tournament Performance Rating Men's Section award.

Utut won the gold in the first board of the Individual Board Prizes. The 35-year-old player won six and had three draws from his nine matches to collect 7.5 VPs.

Indonesian women players managed to defeat Mexico 2.0-1.0 to finish 55th in the overall standing with a total 20.5 VPs.

Upi D Tamim had to offer a draw in the 28th move to Yadira Hernandez. Teammate Ai Zakiah, after a long battle, was also drawn by Alejandra Guerrero in the 60th move.

Evi Lindiawati contributed a victory after beating Edith Garcia 1.0-0.0 in the 56th move.

China won the women's Olympiad with a total 32.0 VPs followed by Georgia with 31.0 VPs and Russia with 28.5 VPs.

Chinese Zu Chen also won the Best Tournament Performance Rating Women's Section award.

The Olympiad was officially closed on Sunday. (yan)