Utut and Cerdas to lead RI SEA Games chess team
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Grand Master (GM) Utut Adianto and GM Cerdas Barus have automatically secured berths on the Indonesian chess team for the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, an official of the Indonesian chess governing body, Percasi, said on Monday.
"As the country's strongest players, Utut and Cerdas have each been awarded one of six places on the men's team," Hendry Jamal, who has been assigned as a coaching staff member for the team, told The Jakarta Post.
He said Women's International Masters (WIM) Upi Darmayana Tamin and Evi Lindiawati had automatically become team members of the women's team.
The 22nd SEA Games is scheduled for Dec. 5 through Dec. 13, and the chess event will be featured for the first time at the biennial sports showcase for Southeast Asian nations.
The Games will feature an overall 32 events with 435 gold medals up for grabs, eight of which will be given to winners of the chess competition.
The automatic inclusion of Cerdas and Utut, who plans to take part in the Aeroflot chess tournament in Russia from Feb. 10 through Feb. 20, on the team is imperative given their match records, which are regarded as far more stable than the rest of the players.
Both were gold medalists in the last two editions of the Chess Olympiad: Utut in Turkey in 2000 and Cerdas in Slovenia last year.
Hendry said the other team members would be selected from a shortlist of 16 players in the men's category and eight in the women's category.
"The 16 men's candidates will be picked during a series of tournaments, which spans from January to August when the national training camp starts," Hendry said.
The Pusam Cup will start competition on Jan. 26, and will be followed by the National Elo Meet in February, Japfa Chess Festival in March, Wismilak International in April, Hamzah Haz Meet in May and the National Championship in July.
With two players picked from each of the tournaments, Percasi will recruit another four as wild-card holders for the selection scheduled in August.
"The wild-cards will be given to two players in the national rankings and two junior players," Hendry said.
The selection field for the women will include six players picked from the three planned tournaments and two wild-card holders.
Percasi has installed GM Evgeny Sveshnikov of Russia as the head coach of both teams, even though his availability has yet to be confirmed.
Eka Putra Wirya, Indonesia's SEA Games chess project officer, said a Percasi team would be dispatched to Russia early next month for the possibility of signing Sveshnikov to train the Indonesian team for its hunt for medals at the SEA Games.