Young champion Aston up for test of time

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Like any other young chess player, Aston Taminsyah also dreams of having the esteemed GM tag before his name.

And with the necessary resources behind him, Aston, who will turn eight on Sept. 2, has the potential not merely to collect a grand master title, but also to break the Indonesian age record.

GM Susanto Megaranto holds the current record, gaining the title in Spain last year at age 17.

Aston may even have a shot at GM Sergey Karjakin's world record, set at the tender age of 12 years, eight months.

"I want to be a grand master," he declared during an interview at the family's home in an upmarket apartment complex in West Jakarta.

"I like Garry Kasparov," he said of the world chess great, showing a book on the Russian, titled The Test of Time.

Aston was a bundle of energy during the interview, his constant fidgeting prompting his mother, Maulani, to ask him to calm down.

Still, his face showed tiredness from the whirlwind round of ceremonies and media calls following his win in the under-8 division of the World School Chess Championship in Halkidiki, Greece, on April 28.

The seven year old became the talk of the national chess community after brushing aside the challenge of 25 other competitors to take the youngest age group category in the championships.

He won seven times and drew twice for eight points, pipping tough-talking Texan Fernando Spada Jr. -- who had said he "came to win" -- into second place, half a point behind.

Amid the other winners from Poland, Romania, Russia and the host nation, Aston was the only Asian champion.

As the games played out in the Greek coastal resort town, Aston showed a maturity beyond his years, especially in coming back from a disappointing fourth place finish at a Southeast Asian junior tournament in Vietnam.

Getting through his first match was all important in the path to winning the title.

"When I was already able to come through the first game, I became confident," said Aston, who singled out Susanto as his favorite player.

Aston first played the game when his father, Abdy, presented him with a chess board on his fifth birthday, while the family was residing in Hong Kong.

"We were curious to give him the chess board because I noticed Aston's interest in thinking games. And his father thought that it was time we gave him a more complicated sort of the game. It appeared that he liked it," Maulani said.

His parents also put him in a chess playing group; upon their return to Indonesia, they enrolled him in the Utut Adianto Chess School (SCUA), named after the country's most famous GM.

His precocious skills quickly got attention.

"Aston is smart at chess comprehension. He is a bit above other kids. He is critical about chess positions and asks many questions out of curiosity," Ivan Situru, a SCUA mentor, said.

He also has strong parental support. His father, a University of California graduate who runs a family-owned IT business, has also footed the bill for his son's participation in regional tournaments in Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and Vietnam. Aston's best result was a win in Singapore.

The tight schedule of lessons and overseas travel prompted Aston's parents to allow the second-grade student at Bina Bangsa elementary school to take one year's leave.

He is at SCUA five days a week; on every second and fourth week, he takes part in an internal school tournament. He also plays about one hour of games at home via the Internet.

Aston, who said he wanted to be a doctor, is eager to return to school, believing he can juggle homework demands with his chess commitments.

Abdy said he strove to teach Aston important values in handling success.

"He may take pride in a win, but he may not be arrogant about the win. He can be humble in defeat, but he has to know why he was defeated so that he can improve.

"But I know he is serious about his chess at the moment. He has high ambitions in chess."

Aston already has a lot in his favor in reaching his goal of being a GM, but he will have to possess the drive to make it happen.

Utut, who achieved the feat at the age of 21, cautioned observers not to set their expectations too high.

"He is just a boy. He has many choices of his own. He may give up his chess at any time (for another interest). It's different from Susanto ... (who is from a low-income family), who had no choice but to get focused on chess in the hope of getting a better living."

For the moment, Aston Taminsyah is the country's new young hope in chess, but as with his hero Kasparov's book, only time will tell.