Susanto secures GM title at chess Olympiad
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Rising Indonesian chess star Susanto Megaranto is assured of a Grand Master (GM) title after securing a draw in the 12th round of the chess Olympiad in Calvia, Spain, on Wednesday.
The 17-year-old Susanto, who currently holds an International Master (IM) title with an elo rating of 2439, drew with GM Luis Galego as the Indonesian men's team took a 2-2 draw with Portugal.
Veteran IM Dede Liu suffered his seventh loss of the event when he fell to GM Antonio Fernandes, but the younger players, Tirta Chandra, 18, and Taufik Halay, 17, both scored points for the team.
Tirta drew with Sergio Rocha while Taufik scored the only win for Indonesia with his defeat of FM Antonio Vitor.
However, the day belonged to Susanto, who has been hailed as the likely successor to GM Utut Adianto as Indonesia's next great player.
His draw with Galego, one more higher rated player he managed to draw with or defeat in the event, saw him earn an overall eight points from 12 games.
Against opponents with an average rating above his, Susanto has registered five wins, five draws and two losses.
His victims include Hungarian ace GM Zoltan Almasi (2462) and Brazilian GM Henrique Mecking (2557), while two of his draws came against Romanian GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (2687) and England GM Michael Adams (2772).
Susanto's performance has earned him a 66.7 percentage point and a performance rating of 2635, far ahead of his real rating, which automatically earns him the GM title.
"It's in accordance with FIDE rules. If a player reaches two- third points after 12 games and a performance rating of at least 2600, he is entitled to a GM title," Sebastian Simanjuntak, an official of the Indonesian Chess Association, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday, referring to a ruling by world's chess governing body FIDE.
"The team can claim Susanto's achievement at the FIDE meeting that coincides with the tournament. And Susanto's title will likely be ratified during next year's meeting," he said.
Susanto would become Indonesia's youngest player to attain the GM title. His mentor Utut obtained the GM title at the age of 21 during the 1986 Olympiad in Dubai.
Kristianus Liem, a chess columnist, said Susanto had shown he could withstand the pressure of being the team's ace.
"Other players, except for Utut, tend to stagger when they have to play on board one," Kristianus said.
The Indonesian team has also been guaranteed of a medal in the women's category courtesy of Irene Kharisma.
Irene, 12, currently is the best board three performer in the tournament, which has two more rounds to go.
Already collecting nine points from 11 games, Irene did not play in Indonesia's 1.5-1.5 draw with Venezuela in the 12th round of the event. She leads the standing with an 81.8 win percentage.
WGM Zhao Xue of China, who was ahead of Irene going into the 12th round, dropped to second with an 80.0 win percentage, followed by WGM Silvia Collas of France with a 77.8 win percentage.
The team hopes Irene, who has also landed a FIDE Master (FM) title, will be able to hold onto the top position over the final two rounds, but at the least she is assured of a bronze medal.
"The players below the top three are already mathematically out of contention," Sebastian said.