Baris M Hutagalung finally could defend his title but not in easy way by all means. He needed help from Arovah Bachtiar in the last round to beat the new kid on the block Lim Hong Gie (aka Lugito Hayadi). Baris had to compete neck-to-neck with Lim and now matured Max Arie Wotulo. In fact it was Lim who led all the way until penultimate round.
The championship consisted of two stages. The qualification was played at Tegal, Central Java, in April 1954. The final was held at the same city from June 5th to 10th, 1954. The domination of Jakarta players was unavoidable. The city, spearheaded by the champion Baris M Hutagalung, placed six finalists out of thirteen.
GM Eugenio Torre showed that he was in a class of his own. He won the tournament easily. One and half points adrift was Giam Choo Kwee from Singapore. He secured the IM norm with Indonesian Arovah Bachtiar and Jacobus Sampouw, and Filipino Rico Mascariñas. This was the second norm for Giam. Soon he was elected to IM.
FIDE Zonal 11 Championship constituted a preliminary round for the World Chess Championship 1987 preceding the Interzonal. At the final stage Chinese players played ‘I let you win’. The unethical conduct damaged the tournament to the extent of beyond repairable. The President of FIDE Zonal 11 declared that the final stage was void.
The event was held at the city of Batam, Kepulauan Riau province. We could call it a festival instead of a championship with total participants close to 600 players. It was strange to find out that U18G and U20G sections lacked of interests. The two had to merge into one with separate calculations for the winners.
Sandy Kurniawan, 2005 U20 National Champion, won the open section while Gerhana Ch Kartina dominated the girls. It was worth noting that many talented young players swarmed the event. Surya, Satibi, Gokok, Taufanadhie, Priambodo, Masruri, Gerhana, Yemi, and Chelsie all soon became national champions in their respective age group.
We have controversies surrounding the first Indonesia National Championship. Some say that the event was held at Semarang 1952. The others point out to a championship at Solo 1953. We are going to follow the latter since it is officially approved by Percasi (All Indonesia Chess Federation).
