This was the first international match between junior players held in Indonesia. The two players had the same age, 11 years old. Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn became the champion in Junior Word Championship U10 2000. Andrean Susilodinata was at 7th place in that event. Nguyễn defeated Andrean 4.5-1.5.
Three GMs with the highest ratings Dorfman, Torre, and Averbakh shared first place. Handoko won 4 games, 3 of them against his compatriots. Sounds familiar? Indonesian players were not the only ones who had trouble grasping the idea of fair play. Take a close look at Torre’s games against his country fellas and be judge for yourself.
WFM Irene Kharisma Sukandar marked her era in Indonesian women chess by winning the event in convincing fashion. This was her first national champion title. Many pundits predicted that her reign as Indonesian Chess Queen would be untouchable for many years to come since she was only fourteen years old at that time.
The not-given-much-chance IM Denny Juswanto delivered a stellar performance by topping the table. He was unbeatable in 13 games and scored his first GM norm. Two other Indonesian players Cecep Kosasih and Yoseph Majella had their shares of success with IM norms. India’s GM Krishnan Sasikiran failed to live up his 2600+ rating.
Semarang II team won the event ahead of more favorable Semarang I. The members of the team were Saiful Fajar, Yusuf Hermawan, Sutrisno, Sujatmoko, and Naning. This is an example of “one game only” events on IndonesiaBase. Please help to improve IndonesiaBase by contributing some games.
Arovah Bachtiar equaled Béla Berger in the play-off rounds but the latter went through to the Interzonal Championship because he had better tie-break in previous qualification rounds. Another Indonesian player, the future successful lawyer Lim Hong Gie (aka Lugito Hayadi), was in the third place. Narrowly missed by half a point.
18 years old Susanto Megaranto took home the cup with 12 VP, one and half a point ahead his seniors IM Nasib Ginting and FM Awam Wahono. Arif Yanuar of DIY became the winner of the shortest game. His opponent got disqualified before even moved the pieces because his cell phone rang.
