Teenager Evie ends Anniswati chess tourney in triumph
Teenager Evie ends Anniswati chess tourney in triumph
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Teenager Evie Lindiawati took a clean sweep at the Anniswati
Memorial Cup women's chess tournament, which ended here on
Tuesday.
After winning the classic games with a convincing performance
over the rest of the 14 participants on Sunday, the Indonesian
chess hopeful for the next Southeast Asian (SEA) Games carried on
to claim another victory in the rapid games on Tuesday.
The 16 year old could only register three draws and a win, but
the additional 2.5 points collected on the second day of the
rapid games competition was enough to keep her at the top of the
final standings with an overall 7 points.
"I'm very happy that I won the tournament. It was tough out
there. I drew in the final three rounds, which could have given
the victory to someone else. Luckily I had a good point lead
entering today's matches," Evie said after she was presented with
the trophies and cash prizes.
Tuesday's victory rounded off Evie's domination over her
senior Women's International Master (WIM) Upi Darmayana Tamin in
the tournament.
The two shared the honor in the preceding two series beginning
last June. The first series in June gave Evie and Upi victories
in the rapid games and classic games respectively before the two
swapped victories in the second round the following October.
Entering Tuesday's matches with a one-point lead, Evie did not
lose firepower to beat Yulianti Tjindarbumi in the sixth round
pairings, which later proved to be a decisive victory.
While Evie drew in the next games, Yulianti recovered to win
the remaining three games. However, her late charge could not
provide her enough leverage to catch up with the champion.
Yulianti was half a point behind Evie followed by 10-year-old
Irene Sukandar, who is hailed as a rising star, with 6 points.
She tied with Tuti Rahayu, but Irene, whose game against Novianti
Ginting in the final round drew interest from the scores of
people in attendance, had a better progressive score.
Upi has yet to live up to her WIM title as she only ended up
in fifth place with 5 points.
The 1997 Asian champion also failed to show her best during
the classic games, a poor performance which prompted concern on
the part of the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) in view of
the next SEA Games in Vietnam.
"Congratulations to Evie. She has proved to be consistent
during the tournament. For Upi, she will have to train harder in
the next sixth months ahead of the games," Eka Putra Wirya,
Percasi's executive chairman, said.
Percasi will also send a six-strong men's team led by Grand
Master (GM) Utut Adianto and GM Cerdas Barus.
Upi and Evie have been granted automatic berths in the female
team, also with six members. The other four places will be
decided in a selection tournament.
Percasi has picked four of the eight candidates to be
shortlisted in the selection: Lisa Lumongdong and Norasa Verdiana
from the Anniswati Cup and Yulianti Tjindarbumi and Neiko Rasaki
from the preceding Gunadarma Open.
Another four candidates will come from the Japfa Chess
Tournament, which will start in Jakarta on March 19, and the
National Championship in Semarang, Central Java, in June.
With Russian coach Evgeny Sveshnikov set for a month-long
training for the team, Eka said that he was optimistic about the
team's prospects.
The chess competition, to be held for the first time in the
SEA Games, will offer eight gold medals.