RI's chess teams leave for Moscow today
RI's chess teams leave for Moscow today
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian chess teams, set to better the
country's rank, depart for Moscow today to take part in the 31st
Chess Olympics from Dec. 1 to Dec. 17.
"We just want to improve our ranks," Djamil Djamal, the
secretary of the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) said
yesterday.
Indonesia is scheduled to compete on the first day of the
championship.
Indonesia's men's team finished 40th and its women's team
placed 18th at the last Chess Olympics in Manila, the
Philippines, two years ago.
Djamal said he hoped the men's team could better its position
from the 40th to 25th or 27th. He anticipates that the women's
team will included among the best 15.
"I think its a reasonable target and believe it is realistic
because both the men's and the women's teams consist of players,
whose skills do not differ too much from each other," Djamal
said.
Djamal, who serves a non-playing captain for the men's team,
said the association was not promising any rewards to players
whose performances help boost Indonesia's rank, but hinted that
they might receive bonuses.
Djamal's main concern was that Moscow's extremely cold
temperatures might disrupt the concentration of the Indonesian
teams.
"At five degrees below zero, I still could not fully
concentrate even though there were three heaters surrounding me,"
Djamal recalled his experience when playing in New Zealand many
years ago. Yesterday Moscow's temperature was reported at 10
degrees below zero.
Speaking of Asian chess supremacy, he said that the strongest
threats would come not only from China, whose men's team finished
seventh and whose women's team was in third place two years ago,
but also from India and the former Soviet republics.
The chess association's chairman, Akbar Tanjung, who is also
the minister of public housing, has named six male players and
four female players to represent Indonesia in the Moscow Chess
Olympiad.
Among the men are two grand masters, Utut Adianto and Eddy
Handoko. The team, including one player in reserve, has five
international masters, Nasib Ginting, Ivan Jonathan Situru, Salor
Sitanggang and Cerdas Barus.
The women are all international masters. They are Lisa K.
Lumongdong, Upi Darmayana Tamin and Maria Ratna Lucia, with
Lindri Juni Widjajanti in reserve. (arf)