Ruben upsets Edhi in Bali Jeff chess tournament

JAKARTA (JP): IM Ruben Gunawan caused a major upset here Thursday by defeating GM Edhi Handoko in the 12th round of the Bali Jeff-RCA Grandmaster Chess Tournament.

Ruben played superbly and steadily, putting Edhi on the defensive with several attacks and closing the match in the 32nd move of a Modern opening.

The victory put Ruben in third place with nine Victory Points (VP). The first and second places are shared by GM Rogelio Antonio of the Philippines and IM Cerdas Barus with 9.5 VP.

Cerdas, who on Wednesday led the tournament, surprisingly drew with Filipino IM Nelson Mariano in the 6th move of a King's Indian opening. This was the quickest game in the tournament since it had opened June 21. The tournament ends July 6.

Antonio woke up from his draw to Ruben on Wednesday to defeat FM Irwanto in the 34th move of a Ruy Lopez Exchange opening.

Like Cerdas, who needs only 1.5 points for the Grandmaster Norm, Ruben also has a chance to gain the title if he can collect two more points in the remaining three rounds.

IM Salor Sitanggang created the tournament's second fastest game Wednesday by drawing in the sixth move of a Queen Pawn opening with IM Nasib Ginting.

The longest game was between NM Tommy Suprianto and IM Tu Hoang Thong of Vietnam. The Vietnamese player eventually defeated the Indonesian in the 53rd move of a Alekhine defense.

Other results:

IM Danny Juswanto vs NM Kifly Tunasly 1-0, GM Ardiansyah vs IM Bobby Kurniawan 1-0, and NM Hamdani Rudin vs NM Maksum Firdaus 1- 0.

Rankings: Antonio and Cerdas 9.5 VP, Ruben 9 VP, Ardiansyah, Hamdani and Danny 7.5 VP, Edhi 7 VP, Mariano and Hoang Thong 6.5 VP, Bobby 5.5 Vp, Nasib 5 VP, Salor 4.5 VP, Irwanto 3.5 VP, Maksum 3 VP, Tommy 2.5 VP and Kifly 1.5 VP. (lnt)