Seeds win first games at junior chess meet

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Tournament seeds cruised past the opening round of the National Junior Chess Circuit in Bekasi, a satellite city of Jakarta, on Saturday.

Ferry Ferdiansyah from Riau, top seed in the boys' 10-14 category, beat Ferdinand Hutabarat of Jakarta in 37 moves.

Kaiser Jenius (South Sumatra) and Surya Wahyudi (Jakarta) also overcame their respective opponents, the former defeating Edi Hun and the latter stopping Riyanta Mitra.

The four-day tournament features 90 players from 14 cities and towns with the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) looking to net young talents for the Dream Team II project.

The planned Dream Team II is supposed to deputize for Dream Team I, which comprises Tirta Chandra, Susanto Megaranto, Taufik Halay and Andrean Susilodinata.

"We will be looking for between five and ten players. They will undergo an intensive training program at the Utut Adianto Chess School, and we'll see whether we can rely on their skills," Percasi Executive Director Eka Putra Wirya said after the opening ceremony.

The competing participants come to the tournament as the top five finishers in one of the previous five circuits in Medan, Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya and Banjarmasin.

In the boys' 15-18 category, Abuzar Fikri of Jakarta and Aprilias DS (East Java) cleared the first hurdle with wins over Fahriadi and Endi Gunawan.

Almost all strong contenders in the girls' 10-14 category had no difficulties in overcoming their unrated opponents, except for Gerhana Kartika.

Gerhana, the champion in the U-8 category in the 2001 ASEAN Junior Championship in Kuala Lumpur, was stunned by Tri Prisma.

Meanwhile, Evi Lindiawati, a national team member in the 2000 Chess Olympiad in Turkey, led the favorites' charge in the girls' 15-18 category with a win over Oktalina Anugrani.