IndonesiaBase

The tournament was all about Edhi Handoko. Handoko won category X tournament for the first time and he did it in convincing manner. He won five games and let only one loss. He topped the table ahead of many strong GMs: Tkachiev, Serper, Hráček, Blatny, and a bunch of Chinese best players Xú Jùn, Yè Jiāngchuān, Xiè Jūn, and Yè Róngguāng.

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 a 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.

It is not easy to avoid superlative words when we are talking about Utut Adianto Wahyuwidayat. He was awarded a GM title after his outstanding performance in Dubai Chess Olympiad 1986. At 21 years old he was the youngest GM in Asia Pacific. Utut’s triumph in Zone Tournament 1995 made him the first Indonesian to pass 2600 elo mark.

GM Vladislav Tkachiev played two Indonesian players, GM Edhi Handoko and IM Andi Supardi Suhendra. The late Edhi Handoko belonged to the best players in Indonesia at that time. Andi Suhendra was a talented young player who won Asian Junior Championship 1992 at Dubai. Tkachiev won both matches.

The championship consisted of two stages. The qualification was played at Tegal, Central Java, in May 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.

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.

Alexander Alekhine, the world chess champion of 1927-35 and 1937-46, visited Indonesia (then Netherlands Indies) for the second time in 1933. The first was in 1930. Alekhine played many simultaneous and blindfold exhibitions at the cities in Java and Sumatera. The record was staggering: 437 wins, 23 draws, and only 9 losses.