Susanto secures GM title at chess Olympiad
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.