Taufik shines as teammates flop

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)