Tirta, Surya, Gerhana record wins at chess meet
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesian teenaged chess hopefuls Tirta Chandra, Surya Wahyudi and Gerhana won both their matches in their respective age categories at the Junior ASEAN Championship in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
Tirta, who is playing in the under-18 boy's category, beat Goh Wei Ming in his first game and Marcus Chan in his second game Wednesday. Two matches a day have been played since competition began Monday.
Surya, in the U-12 boy's field, chalked up his wins at the expense of Chan Lit Bin and Tan Wee Meng, while Gerhana, in the girls' U-8 category, proved too strong for Singaporeans Neo Xin Wen and Sia Xin Die.
Tirta is in joint-first position with 5 points from five win and one loss at the hands of Vietnamese co-leader Vu Dinh Hung in the third round. Hung lost last night.
The ASEAN meet features 226 players -- 158 boys and 68 girls -- from six countries: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam.
The Asian competition is being held with participants coming from Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and with competitors invited from Australia.
Indonesia has come to the tournament with 11 boys and four girls, all given a briefing on Tuesday by Grand Master Utut Adianto and Indonesian Chess Association executive director Eka Putra Wirya.
Other players ending the day with double wins included Ivansky, Irene Karisma, Boy Reinhard, and Kevin Gautama.
Taufik Halay and Mohamad Ansar won their first games, and had yet to complete their second.
The only Indonesian in contention is Evi Lindiawati in the girls' U-16. She got mixed results on Wednesday, beating Dinh Thi Quynh of Vietnam but losing to Dinara Tuiti Bayeva of Kazakhstan.
Utut, whose Kuala Lumpur trip was also to attend the one-day chess seminar, was reported to be generally satisfied with the players' performance. "Utut sees some of them, especially Tirta and Aris, as having good prospects of winning the competition," team manager Nike Setiawati told The Jakarta Post.
The competition continues with two rounds on Thursday and the final round Friday. The team would return to Jakarta on Saturday, Nike said.