Indonesian checkmates second seed Peruvian

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Indonesian Medina Warda Aulia, seeded 15th, ended the journey of Peruvian Deysi Estela Cori Tello, second seed, at the World Junior Under-20 Chess Championship in Athens, Greece on Tuesday evening local time.

In a competition that took place at the Titania Hotel, Medina (rated 2218 in the world), who was playing black, returned every pass that Tello (2413 in world rating) presented to her.

FIDE (World Chess Federation) Woman Master Medina began to dominate Woman Grandmaster Tello on the 20th move, when she used the queen as her defense with her bishops actively guarding the strategic diagonals, the Indonesian Chess Association (PERCASI) said in its press statement.

Tello tried to reverse the black’s dominance on the 23rd move by sacrificing its rook for a bishop.

Medina, who persisted with her initiative, let go her rook for a bishop in the next two steps.

Not only did Medina’s strategy manage to repel the white’s queen to g2, but it also put her one pawn ahead of Tello with the 27th move.

In a sudden attack, Tello made a maneuver with her active bishop, but left herself open to Medina’s counterattack, which limited Tello’s queen’s movement.

Tello, who knew she was being cornered, sacrificed her bishop for two pawns in the hope of being able to launch a checkmate.

But 15-year-old Medina’s precision in guiding her king from one wing to another, and in the placement of her knights, bishops, rooks and queen forced Tello, 19, to quit.

Former chess icon and PERCASI advisory board member, Utut Adianto, lauded the game that Medina had presented.

“The way she picked off pawns was awesome! She’ll become a great player one day,” said the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker, who also owns a chess school attended by Medina, as quoted by PERCASI.

With the victory against Tello, Medina collected a score of 8.5, putting her on a par with Woman Grandmaster Nastassia Ziaizulkina (2342 world rating) of Belarus; International Master Anastasia Bodnaruk (2414 world rating) of Russia; Woman International Master Irina Bulmaga (2380 world rating) of Romania; and Tello.

At the top of standings was Woman Grandmaster Guo Qi of China (2358 world rating), with a score of nine, who beat Woman Grandmaster Jovana Vojinovic (2337 world rating) of Montenegro.

Apart from Medina, PERCASI also sent Woman International Master Chelsie Monica Sihie, as well as male players Farid Firman Syah and Muhammad Lutfi to the competition, despite an absence of 20 years due to bad performances.

Sending the junior chess players, Utut said, was aimed at determining where Indonesia was in terms of world chess.