Stefanova, Edhi lead at Wismilak chess tourney

Stefanova, Edhi lead at Wismilak chess tourney

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Grand Master (GM) Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria and GM Edhi
Handoko shared top place with two points each after registering
their second wins at the Wismilak International Chess Tournament
in Surabaya, East Java, on Tuesday.

After beating Myanmar International Master (IM) Nay Oo Kyaw
Tun on the opening day, Stefanova, 23, overcame local hopeful
Susanto Megaranto, 15, in the second round.

"While her opening win showed her high class as a positional
player, the second match showed that she is the opening
repertoire master," chess columnist Kristianus Liem said.

On move 13, Susanto, playing with the white pieces, sacrificed
his knight, which proved to be a miscalculation. But it was not
until move 19 that Susanto realized his mistake after his attempt
to win back a knight ended in failure.

"His failure was down to Stefanova's capability in playing an
accurate sequence of moves," Kris said.

The US$6,000 Wismilak tournament features 12 players, four of
whom are from foreign countries.

The only home contender to have collected the same points with
Stefanova is GM Edhi, who took their wins at the expense of
fellow Indonesians Cecep Kosasih and GM Ardiansyah.

Following behind with 1.5 points were IM Cerdas Barus and FIDE
Master (FM) Irwanto Sadikin. 2002 national champion Cerdas edged
GM Zaw Win Lay of Myanmar, while Irwanto won over FM Hamdani
Rudin.

IM Danny Juswanto and IM Enrique Pacienca of the Philippines
have collected one point each, having been content with draws in
their two matches, while the players having only scored 0.5
points included Susanto Megaranto, Hamdani Rudin, Zaw Win Lay and
Nay Oo Kyaw Tun.

The third round of matches on Tuesday were still underway late
last night.