Susanto off to flying start against Dao
Susanto off to flying start against Dao
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Teenager Susanto Megaranto chalked up an upset win over
Vietnamese Dao Thien Hai in the opening round of their best-of-
seven matchup series at the Japfa Chess Festival here on Monday.
The 17-year-old Indonesian stopped Dao, 10 years his senior,
with black in 48 moves in around three hours and half.
The tournament was officially opened by State Minister of
Youth and Sports Affairs Adhyaksa Dault, witnessed by the
secretary-general of the world chess governing body (FIDE)
Ignatius Leong, at the former's office in Senayan, Central
Jakarta.
The organizers also used the occasion to introduce eight-year-
old Aston Taminsyah, who won the under-8 eight group category at
the world school championship in Greece last week.
"It's a pleasure to visit Indonesia. And I'd like to say
welcome to your boy champion. I think he is going to a strong
player in the future," Singaporean Leong said in his speech.
The planned-six day festival features 800 players in nine
classes of competition, competing for a total of Rp 80 million in
cash prizes.
The main attraction, however, is the matchup between Susanto
and Dao.
Susanto managed to shield himself with a solid Slav defense.
On move 20, the two players liquidated their queens and after
swapping pieces in the next 10 moves, they were almost in a
balanced position.
However, Dao acknowledged a poor 37th move of putting the
knight on c5.
"I should have opted for a rook on d1," he said later.
With the choice of the move, Dao, whose 2609 is the highest
elo-rating in the Southeast Asian region, was forced to retreat
to consolidate his defense.
Susanto was unstoppable in building on the attack through a
pawn moving forward assisted by the king.
With the clock ticking away, Dao gave away his knight and then
congratulated Susanto.
"He might have been daunted by the time running out," said
Susanto, who had 15 minutes left on his clock against Dao's few
seconds.
The winner will take US$1,500 and the loser $750.
The only surprise in the men's master competition was that top
seed Danny Juswanto did not show up for his match and was
defaulted.
Other top seeds, including Hamdani Rudin, Edhi Handoko, Salor
Sitanggang, Kasmiran, Ruben Gunawan, Ardiansyah, Ivan Situru and
Tirta Chandra, were untroubled in defeating lower-ranked foes.
In the women's master competition, which also has 13
contenders, second seed Evie Lindiawati fell to Imasniti, but top
seed Lisa Lumongdong and third seed Irene Kharisma won their
matches.