The 1993 Chinese National Chess Champion FM Tóng Yuānmíng showed a class of his own. He won the tournament in convincing fashion. He grabbed his last needed IM norm in the process. Indonesia also did well. The host registered IM norms for three players: FM Salor Sitanggang, Nathanael Situru, and Gunadarma player Dede Lioe.
The National Chess Selection, held at SCUA (Utut Adianto Chess School) Bekasi, was to choose two man and one woman players to complete Indonesian team for the upcoming Chess Olympiad at Tromsø, Norway, on August 1-15, 2014. Only two men and one woman would be chosen. Three men and four women have already been in the team.
A twice Hungarian Women National Chess Champion WGM Tícia Gara played an up-and-coming 16-year-old Indonesian WGM Medina Warda Aulia. From the rating side the match-up was pretty even. Gara’s Elo of 2340 was not much different from Aulia’s 2332. The final scoreline confirmed the equilibrium. The match ended in a tie 3-3.
Malang, a city with nice weather in the eastern hemisphere of Java, had an honour to hold Indonesia National Chess Championship for the second time. The first in 1958 has gone down into the Indonesian chess history as the most chaotic National Championship ever. The 1974 Natonal Championship marked the return of IM Ardiansyah to the throne.
The eventual winner GM Sergei Tiviakov Of Netherlands made amends to his slow start. He scored a quadruple in the last four rounds. The chess tournament ended with no Indonesian players good enough to grab a GM norm. A guest player Vietnamese IM Nguyễn Huỳnh Minh Huy was the only one who succeeded to do so.
The chess event was held to honour GM Yuri Averbakh during his visit to Indonesia. Not all of the best Indonesian players participated, most notably Baris Hutagalung and Ang Tjing Sing. Baris won the last National Championship held at Jakarta, 1955. He was arranged to play Averbakh in a separate one-on-one match.
The 2nd First Lady’s Cup Chess Tournament kept the first edition’s trademark intact: a lot of players with a lot of ratings. The number of players was a little less than the first but with a boost in term of ratings. The tournament had a category of XI which was significantly higher than the last year’s IX.
