Taufik shines as teammates flop

JAKARTA (JP): Taufik Halay won his final game to become the only Indonesian player to enter the top 10 at the World Age Group Chess Championships in Oropesa Del Mar, Spain on Friday.

Playing in the Under-12 division, Taufik beat Wu Kay Yu of China on the 38th move to put himself in a six-way tie for fourth place on 7.5 points.

The pack of fourth-finishers also included Chinese-born Australian Zhong Yuan Zhao, Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan, Harikrishna of India, Catalino Sodorra of the Philippines, Wang Yu of China and Grygory Shurgulaia of Georgia.

Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan, who led the 85-field tournament from start to finish, held on to take the gold medal in the category with 9.5 points. Ukraine's Andrei Volokitin collected the same points but had to settle for the silver because he scored fewer wins than Radjabov. The bronze went to another Azerbaijan player, Kadir Guseinov, who was one point adrift.

Another Indonesian who competed in the section, Susanto Megaranto, sealed his campaign on a low note, crashing to Hungarian rival Gryorgy Zentai after 47 moves. The defeat placed the 11-year-old Indonesian outside the top 30 on 6 points.

Antara news agency reported Indonesian representative in the Under-10 group, Andrean Susiladinata, saw his last-ditch efforts to finish among the top 10 come a cropper after his Indian opponent and top seed Sen Gupta forced a draw. Andrean slid to 12th place with seven points.

It was a setback of achievement for Indonesia in the annual event after it won a bronze through Taufik last year.

The Indonesian trio will leave for Paris to play in the Junior World Rapid Chess Championship to be held at the city's Disneyland from Nov. 14 through Nov. 18. (amd)