Seeds win first matches in Hamzah Haz Cup

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

International Master (IM) Danny Juswanto led the seeds in the Hamzah Haz Cup chess open tournament after the first two matches were played at the Tanah Abang Chess Center in Central Jakarta on Sunday.

Vice President Hamzah Haz was to have declared open the tournament, which offers Rp 45 million (US$5,000) in cash prizes and features 240 players in four pools.

Bing Sarjono, from the organizing committee, said that the Vice President failed to turn up because of his busy agenda.

"Pak Hamzah has decided to spare time on Wednesday to visit the venue at 9:30 a.m.," Bing told reporters.

Back on the chessboards, Danny, who is the tournament's top seed, eased past Pujiarto in the first and Jamaludin in the second round of the Pool A competition to collect a perfect two points.

Also finishing the opening day with two victories were Hamdani Rudin, Anjas Novita and Johan Gunawan.

Grand Master (GM) Ruben Gunawan and IM Cerdas Barus are the top seeds in Pool B and had no difficulties in their opening matches over their unknown opponents.

IM Ivan Situru was the only seed in Pool C who was surprised, losing to unrated Jesman Sijabat in the second round. Joining the group are national players IM Dede Liu and IM Irwanto, who managed to overcome their respective opponents.

IM Cecep Kosasih, Hanny Marentek and Salor Sitanggang were unbeatable in their opening matches in Pool D.

Three members of the national junior team will enter the second day of the tournament on Monday with two victories: Susanto Megaranto, Tirta Chandra in Pool A and Andrean Susilodinata in Pool D.

The top two players in each pool will qualify for the finals stage in which the play format shifts from conventional chess with 90 minutes of thinking time to rapid games, which allow 25 minutes of thinking time.