Seeds win first matches in Hamzah Haz Cup

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.