Teenage Evie records two victories to lead Anniswati Cup

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Top female chess player Evie Lindiawati pulled one point clear at the top after winning another two games in the Anniswati Cup here on Thursday.

Sixteen-year-old Evie beat Stefani Dian and Amalia Andra in the second and third rounds respectively to collect an overall three points in the provisional standings. She defeated Tuti Rahayu on Wednesday.

Five players followed with two points each, including two international master holders in the tournament: Upi Darmayana Tamin and Lisa Lumongdong.

After winning their respective games in the second round, Upi and Lisa, both former national team members in the Chess Olympiad, played out draws in the third round, which were their second draws.

The other three with two points each were Amalia, Yulianti Tjindarbumi and Norasa Verdiana.

Evie, who along with Upi has been awarded an automatic berth in the national team for the next Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam, was involved in a 57-move Scott game before stopping Amalia in their third round tie. She capitalized on the advantage of being one pawn ahead to round off the endgame in a victory.

The tournament, which will continue until Tuesday, was to have featured 14 women's players, but Ai Zakiah, who was granted a wild card for being the 2002 national champion, failed to turn up.

"Ai did not play in the first three rounds. We now have 13 participants in the tournament. As we have fixed pairings with 14 players, each round must involve gifting a win to every player paired with Ai," Hendry Jamal, from the organizing committee, told The Jakarta Post.

The Anniswati Cup is one of the four selection fields planned by the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) for the formation of a national team for the Vietnam meet in December.

The eight players who are expected to emerge from the whole series will undergo a mini-competition to fight for four places on the team.