Salor protests referee as draw request rejected

JAKARTA (JP): West Java International Master Salor Sitanggang protested international referee Jamil Jamal in the third round of the Bali Jeff-RCA Grandmaster Chess Tournament on Monday.

Salor protested that his request for a draw against National Master Tommy Suprianto was rejected by the referee.

Salor played black and had only a King and a Bishop, while his opponent had a King, a Bishop and a Knight. Salor demanded a draw but the referee refused.

Although Salor still had 27 seconds remaining and his opponent had two minutes 34 seconds, Jamil told the players to continue.

"Go ahead with the play since the FIDE regulations are still valid until June 30, so the position of the two players must continue. Once the new regulations apply on July 1 and the position is seen as a draw, then the game must be stopped," Jamil said.

With the game continuing, Tommy still could not take Salor's King and Salor's time ran out. Tommy was crowned the winner even though he still had 49 seconds left.

Salor opened with the Sicilian opening and his 112 moves took six hours.

"I am disappointed with the referee. The game should actually have ended in a draw. I will certainly launch a strong protest," Salor said.

Two other Indonesian players, IM Ruben Gunawan and NM Hamdani Rudin, said that the game should have been a draw.

"During the Asian meet in Malaysia two years ago, GM Utut Adianto accepted a draw at the time he had a bishop and a knight while his opponent had only a bishop. The draw was made without checking the time of the two players," Ruben said.

Hamdani said chess should be observed from the board and play and not from the time. "Tommy should have been sporting and accepted a draw."

But Tommy said he was winning since the beginning but was in a hurry so it should have ended in a draw.

"I was leading from the beginning. Let Salor launch his protest over the referee ordering the game to continue," Tommy said.

The tournament, which was opened by Indonesian Chess Association's Akbar Tanjung last Friday, ends on July 6.

Sixteen players are competing, including three foreigners. Total prize money is Rp 14.5 million. The four top winners each receive Rp 4 million, Rp 3 million, Rp 2 million and Rp 1 million. The fifth and sixth placings receive Rp 750,000, the seventh and eight placings receive Rp 500,000 while the ninth to 16th placings receive Rp 250,000.

Other results on Monday were: GM Ardiansyah vs GM Edhi Handoko 1/2-1/2, NM Zulkifly Tunasly vs IM Nasib Ginting 0-1, NM Hamdani Rudin vs FM Irwanto 1/2-1/2, NM Maksum Firdaus vs MI Ruben Gunawan 1/2-1/2, MI Danny Juswanto vs MI Tu Hoang Thong 1/2-1/2, MI Bobby Kurniawan vs IM Nelson Mariano 1-0, GM Rogelio M. Antonio vs MI Cerdas Barus 1/2-1/2. (lnt)