RI men's team beats Chile

RI men's team beats Chile

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia earned mixed results at the 12th round
of the Chess Olympics in Moscow on Tuesday, with its men's team
storming to a big win over Chile.

In a contrasting style, the national women's team scrambled
all the way in its 0-3 rout by Germany.

Indonesian quartet of Grand Master Utut Adianto, GM Edhi
Handoko, Master International Cerdas Barus and MI Salor
Sitanggang shrugged off the chilly weather of minus 10 degrees
Celsius to overpower their Chilean rivals, with losing only half
a point in their brief games.

The convincing 3.5-0.5 victory helped Indonesia jump to the
top 30 in the provisional standings after two weeks of struggle.
It has now garnered 27 victory points.

"If Utut and teammates manage at least a draw in their last
two matches, they'll probably join the world top 20," an elated
national team manager Djamil Djamal said in his fax made
available to Indonesian mass media.

Utut made short work of MI Campos who was forced to give up
after 36 moves of their Queen Gambit game. Playing in the second
board, Edhi was troubled against MI Silva but kept up his charge
to stop the Chilean in the 41st move.

Cerdas stretched Indonesia's lead to 3-0 as he tamed Master
FIDE Albarca after 41 moves. Salor had to be content with a draw
with MI Salazar in a lackluster game which lasted only in 33
moves.

The celebration was short-lived as Djamil revealed his worries
about physical fitness of his two key players Salor and Cerdas.
Both players suffered from rashes due to the freezing
temperature.

"If their illness worsens, we'll keep them on the bench in the
final two matches," said Djamil.

German women's chess wizards proved too strong for the trio of
Upi Dharmayana Tamin, Lisa Lumongdong and Maria Ratna Lucia who
could do nothing but play a defensive-prone game.

National number one Upi lost to MI Micik after 48 moves, just
after Maria bowed to FM Olbrich in the 42nd move. Earlier, Lisa
gave up to GM Kachiani in the 38th move.

The trouncing dropped the national women's team out of the top
30 in the provisional standings. With only two matches remaining,
Indonesian women's players look hopeless to repeat their fine
showing two years ago in Manila. They finished 20th out of 80
participating teams. (amd)