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span class="inline inline-left">Medina Warda Aulia. (JP/P.J. Leo)Local teen chess prodigy, Medina Warda Aulia, is looking to continue her impressive run as she bids to become Indonesia’s youngest player to receive the women’s grandmaster (WGM) title at the US$55,000 Indonesian Open Chess Championship (IOCC) in Jakarta this week.

It will be a difficult task for the 15-year-old as the tournament features a pack of grandmasters among the 100 or so participants. The grandmasters come from 17 countries, among them last year’s champion Li Chao of China, runner-up Ganguly Shektar of India and Ivan Sokolov, whose elo-rating (relative skill level) of 2,696 puts him on the top of the seeding list.

“Hopefully, the IOCC 2012 will provide successful for the organizers as well as our players, especially [the women’s grandmaster] candidate so we will not have only one women’s grandmaster,” tournament chairman Vickner Sinaga said during a media conference at Grand Sahid Hotel on Thursday.

To be awarded a WGM title, a player has to win three WGM norms in international tournaments with a minimum elo-rating of 2,300. Medina’s elo-rating is 2,311 on the official rating list. The IOCC 2012 will run from Oct. 10 to 17, using the Swiss system in 9 rounds.

The Indonesian chess star collected her first norm in 2011 when she won the ASEAN women’s championship in Singapore.

Medina displayed impressive chess skills during the Indonesian team’s tour of Greece, Russia and Turkey. Finishing in a respected position in Athens, she continued her performance in Russia where she gained her second WGM norm.

The Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) pledged bonuses for successful players. “We can’t disclose it here. You must wait. Everyone who is [successful in the name of] the Red and White deserves appreciation,” Percasi chairman Hashim Djojohadikusumo said.

At the Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Medina improved her ranking from the previous Olympiad while fellow men’s players suffered a dip in performance. The Indonesian women’s team finished 24th among participants from 127 countries, while Indonesia’s men’s team dropped from their previous Olympiad ranking.

Indonesian team manager Kristianus Liem expressed his optimism about his player’s preparation for the next tournament. “The athletes have been training for quite a long time. They are practically ready for the tournament,” Kris said.

Irene Kharisma is the only WGM title holder in Indonesia. She has been hogging the spotlight exclusively among her peers until Medina showed she deserved her share of adulation. “Medina needs to score another norm to make chess history as the second WGM and the first to make it under-16,” Kris said.

Last year’s tournament finished without surprises with the top seven positions occupied by foreign players. Indonesia’s best performer was Susanto Megaranto, whose surprise defeat of top seed Alexey Dreev, helped him collect six points to take eighth place in the final standings.