IndonesiaBase

Semarang City team won the event. It was no surprise since the team practically fielded the best players in Central Java: Joko Santoso, Nursiyo, Jumadi, Saiful Fajar, and Marwanto. The event was held in Ungaran, a capital city of Semarang Regency. The city is famous as one of culinary destinations in Central Java.

Indonesian number one, Utut Adianto, played a match of his life. He led until the penultimate round by winning one game in normal time control and another in rapid. Anatoly Karpov levelled the scoreline after winning the last round played in blindfold. Karpov rode his luck when finally he won the decider in a blitz game.

Herman Suradiradja is the first Indonesian GM. He ‘graduated’ from Bulgaria. He got all of his GM norms in this country. The first norm was at Primorsko in 1977. A year later he completed his GM title at Plovdiv where he became a co-champion with Evgenij Ermenkov, ahead of Semon Palatnik, József Pintér, Georgi Tringov, and Dragoljub Minić.

We in IndonesiaBase are still working on Indonesia National Championships facts and games. Let us know if you find something incorrect or missing. GM Ardiansyah is holding the record by winning the title five times but GM Susanto Megaranto most possibly would break the record sooner or later. He has already won four times and is still in the tender age.

Overseas players dominated the arena. No Indonesian players were found in the big ten. The best Indonesian player was Denny Juswanto at 11th. A consolation prize for the host came from Sebastian Simanjuntak. He secured IM norm with Myanmar’s Zaw Win Lay and Philippines’ Luis Chiong Romero.

The tryouts involved three clubs and two DKI Jakarta teams. The members of DKI Jakarta PON (Pekan Olahraga Nasional or National Games) team were Ardiansyah, Sutan Aritonang, Sarwan Ginting, Herman Kusnadi, and Denny Juswanto. Ardiansyah didn’t participate in these tryouts since he was playing abroad.

Indonesian ace Utut Adianto Wahyuwidayat added another highlight to his already glittering résumé although this time he had to share it with Jörg Hickl, an eccentric player from Germany. For Hickl the win should be relief after his disastrous performance in another tournament in Indonesia that left him in the bottom of the table.