Tirta, Gerhana triumph as Vietnam dominates
Tirta, Gerhana triumph as Vietnam dominates
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesians Tirta Chandra Purnama and female compatriot
8-year-old Gerhana triumphed at the Junior ASEAN Chess
Championships in Kuala Lumpur, which was dominated overall by the
Vietnamese team.
The nine-round tournament, in which participants competed for
titles in 10 separate age categories, ended on Friday.
Tirta, who played in the U-18 age category, collected eight
points overall from nine games. His drubbing of Vietnamese
Trananh Tri in the final round on Friday was his sixth win on the
trot, or eight in total at the tournament.
His only loss came at the hands of Vu Dinh Hung in the third
round. The Vietnamese finished in second place followed by Lim
Chuin Hoong of Malaysia.
The victory must have been a consolation for the 15-year-old
Tirta after he skipped last month's Asian tournament because he
arrived too late at the airport to catch his scheduled flight.
Gerhana triumphed in her first international appearance,
amassing six points in the U-8 category to beat Nguyen Ngoc
Phuang Khanh of Vietnam and Hoen Huei Danielle of Singapore to
second and third place respectively.
Tirta and Gerhana's achievement means that Indonesia, which
fielded 15 players -- 11 boys and four girls -- in the
tournament, could only take two of the ten trophies on offer.
Apart from the two titles, the other contenders fared below
par. Even silver or bronze meals proved elusive for them, most of
whom were playing in their international debut.
"The kids looked to be "stage-intoxicated" in their first
international performance," team's manager Nike Setiawati told
The Jakarta Post from Kuala Lumpur by phone.
Vietnam, whose squad included 2000 world champion Nguyen Ngoc
Truong Son, dominated the tournament with seven trophies, leaving
Singapore to take the other remaining title in the boys U-8
category with Christer Jon Alpin.
Nguyen, who upset the rising Indonesian teenage star, Andrean
Susilodinata, in a head-to-head meet in Jakarta last March, led
the Vietnamese team by taking the boys U-12 title.
His triumphant compatriots were Hoang Chanh Huan (boys U-16),
Vo Thanh Ninh (boys U-14), Le Quong Liem (boys U-10), Nguyen Thi
Thuy (girls U-16), Le Phu Nguyen Thao (girls U-14) and Ngo Kim
Tuyen (girls U-10).
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups
Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Indonesia, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Laos, Philippines and Thailand. The latter four did not
field teams at the tournament.