The massive Elo rating favourite GM Sergei Tiviakov failed to assert his domination in the 10th Japfa GMs Tournament. He dragged down himself even further by playing a suspicious game against his student IM Irene Kharisnma Sukandar. He lost easily in a Scandinavian game. Tiviakov tried to ward off the suspicion, “I have taught her everything I know about the opening.”
Monang Sinulingga had a unique style of play. The movement of his chess pieces often surprised his opponents. He did not hesitate to sacrifice the chess pieces that have become the hallmark of the Karo chess. Pieces like rooks or queens were “not very valuable” to him. He has left for good but his golden trails stay with us.
The chess match became an event for the Indonesian hopeful young talent IM Novendra Priasmoro to hunt the Grand Master (GM) title. His current Elo rating, 2495, was still shy away from the minimum requirement of 2500. In this match Novendra was going to play Vietnamese GM Nguyễn Anh Dũng for 6 rounds.
NISB (Nederlands Indische Schaakbond) had since established a chess championship called Bondswedstrijden (Club Championship). The event had been held regularly from 1916 to 1940 at the big cities of Java. In the 1927 edition at Semarang, the pre-championship favorite Dirk Bleijkmans played strongly to win the crown for the 7th time.
Mission accomplished. WIM Irene Kharisma Sukandar successfully registered her first WGM norm. She was assured of the norm after settling for a draw with Slovene WGM Jana Krivec in the last round. Earlier in the half way of the chess tournament the WGM norm prospect looked bleach for the 16-year old Indonesian.
The late Anniswati was the wife of the then Percasi Chairman, Machnan Kamaluddin. The tournament under her name sought to rejuvenate Indonesian women chess. Indonesia placed as high as 11th in the 1996 Women Chess Olympiad. But since Upi Tamin’s victory in Asian Championship a year later, Indonesian chess had been in decline.
A famous Dutch chess master Lodewijk Prins visited Indonesia in 1956. He spent two and half months traveling around Java, Sumatera, and Borneo. He played at Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Semarang, Medan, and Pematang Siantar. He also visited the home of the 1st Indonesia National Champion Arovah Bachtiar, the city of Banjarmasin, Borneo.
