Seven Grand Masters in Wotulo Memorial

JAKARTA (JP): Just a week after the duel between Indonesia's young chess player Andrean Susilodinata and Vietnamese Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son here, Jakarta once again hosts an international chess event.

Seven international Grand Masters have confirmed their participation in the Wotulo Memorial International Grand Master Chess Tournament staged by Gunadarma University this week.

The seven GMs are Krunoslav Hulak of Croatia with an elo rating of 2546, Stefan Djuric of Yugoslavia (2465), Normunds Miezis of Latvia (2601), Dashzeveg Sharavdorj of Mongolia (2441), Zaw Win Lay of Myanmar (2537), Darryl Johansen of Australia (2520) and Krishnan Sasikiran of India (2601).

The tournament will start on March 22 and end on April 3 at the Clarion Golden Hotel.

Host Indonesia is fielding International Master (MI) Danny Juswanto with an elo rating of 2487, MI Dede Liu (2378), FIDE Master Awam Wahono (2401), Sugeng Prayitno (2391), Cecep Kosasih (2420), Yoseph R. Majella (2321) and Eko Supriyono (2252).

"The tournament is not only to commemorate the late Max Arie Wotulo's services in developing chess in the country but also to give chances to national chess players in improving their performance in international events," said the secretary general of the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) Djamil Djamal on Tuesday.

Wotulo was an International Master who was a member of the country's Chess Olympics team in 1960 in Leipzig, Germany; in 1966 at Havana; in 1970 at Siegen, Germany; in 1972 at Skopye, Yugoslavia; and in 1978 at Buenos Aires.

He was also the first International Referee of Indonesia and managed to serve on duty at the Chess Olympics in Manila in 1992.

The event organizers chairman Bunawan said that national players, who have yet to achieve a GM Norm title, would have a chance to do so by collecting 9.5 points in the 13-match nine- category event.

Bunawan said that the current event category was six levels below the event staged in 1995 but it was still prestigious, with the participation of seven international GMs.

FIDE regulations say a chess player only has to compete in an event competed in by three foreign GMs to earn a GM Norm title.

Percasi chairman Machnan Kamaluddin was grateful to Gunadarma University for developing chess in the country.

Machnan said the organizers did not offer prize money but only provided a US$1,000 appearance fee for each foreign player. (yan)