Tirta gains entry to Gunadarma chess meet
Tirta gains entry to Gunadarma chess meet
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Tirta Chandra is the latest player to be included in the 15-
strong list for the eight-day Gunadarma Cup 'elo-rating' chess
tournament, which kicks off here on Monday.
The inclusion of 16-year-old Tirta means that the players'
average for the tournament will be only 2341, resulting in it
being relegated from the planned five-tier to a four-tier event.
"We wish Salor (Sitanggang) had been available for the
competition. Then we could have maintained the ranking," Mukmin
Panggabean from the organizing committee said on the sidelines of
the National Chess League here on Sunday.
Salor is one of the few Indonesian International Master (IM)
title holders.
Despite its drop in ranking, the tournament, according to
Mukmin, remains a FIDE-sanctioned event, able to provide an IM
result (IMR) for the players who manage to score at least ten
points. FIDE is the world chess governing body.
The contenders will play a round-robin competition in 14
rounds.
Tirta's participation means he has joined his junior teammate
Susanto Megaranto in the tournament with the rest of the field
being made up of senior players.
Among the participants are Grand Master (GM) Cerdas Barus, GM
Ruben Gunawan, GM Ardiansyah and GM Edhi Handoko. Edhi is Tirta
and Susanto's mentor in the Japfa Chess Club.
Other contenders include Yoseph Majella, Nurdin Askali, Anjas
Novita, Kasmiran, Iwan Prihastomo, Johan Gunawan, Maksum Firdaus,
Tirto and Hanny Marentek.
Meanwhile, Edhi collected 8 points from nine games in two days
to win the seventh stage of the National Chess League at the
Tanah Abang Chess Center, which ended here on Sunday.
He was followed by Maksum Firdaus and Cornelis Purba, who
amassed 7.5 and 7 points respectively.
Susanto, who had led the league until stage 6 last month, was
absent during the two day's of matches due to illness.
The league will play its last stage next month with 24 top
players in the master category and 8 in the non-master category
qualifying for the grand final in early April.