2008.01.06-21. Round Robin 11 rounds. 12 players. Rating average 2450. Category VIII. GM norm 8. IM norm 6.
ASEAN Masters Chess Circuit marked significant development of chess in ASEAN. Four countries, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Singapore had agreed to host the event. Each leg was planned as a 12 player round robin with 2 places for each visiting federation and the remaining 6 for the host country. With these tournament, leading and talented players in ASEAN would have opportunities to win titles, got norms, and improved their ratings.
The first leg in Tarakan had 3 sections: GM-A, GM-B, and WIM. Ex Chinese, now Singaporean, GM Zhāng Zhōng won the GM-A section without much difficulties. He notched 6 wins without losing any. IM Tirto, who was also unbeatable, came second and scored his first GM norm. Indonesian highest rated player GM Susanto Megaranto lost his hope for the first place after being crashed in the hand of his fellow country man FM Tirta Chandra Purnama. The latter got his final IM norm.
Tirto was as humble as he used to be. He said, “I was lucky to have white pieces six times, and in the final rounds I played opponents who were frustrated since they have already failed to get norms.”