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Defending champ Tiviakov seeking hat trick in Indonesia
Sergey Tiviakov - Courtesy of the chess connectionsThe Japfa Grandmaster Chess Tournament is set to begin its weeklong competition on Wednesday with top seed Sergey Tiviakov looking for a hat trick in his third-time visit to Indonesia
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Sergey Tiviakov - Courtesy of the chess connections
The Japfa Grandmaster Chess Tournament is set to begin its weeklong competition on Wednesday with top seed Sergey Tiviakov looking for a hat trick in his third-time visit to Indonesia.
'I'm happy to come back again. It's a pleasure to play here,' Tiviakov said during a media conference on Monday.
The Russian-born Dutch player, who currently holds an Elo rating of 2662, first came in 1997 when he emerged as champion in the Indonesian Open. In last year's Japfa tournament, he collected six wins and three draws in nine games to finish a point ahead of Vietnamese Nguyen Minh Huy.
Tiviakov is one of six foreign contenders in the 12-player tournament, with the other six being Geetha Narayanan of India (2577), Antonio Rogelio Jr (Philippines/2483), Nguyen Ahn Dung (Vietnam/2464) and female players Sophie Milliet (France/2377) and Alina l'Ami (Romania/2397).
The six Indonesian participants include Sean Winshand Cuhendi (2428), Farid Firman Syah (2422), Muhammad Lutfi Ali (2401), Tirta Chandra Purnama (2393) and female players Irene Kharisma Sukandar (2415) and Medina Warda Aulia (2404).
Alina l'Ami is traveling to Indonesia for her second time. Her first visit was a success with her winning the women's grandmaster tournament in 2013.
The current field is stronger than the one she triumphed in, but she said she relishes the challenge.
'This is a strong field and I would be happy to gain rating,' she said, adding that she found it enjoyable to play in Indonesia.
Utut Adianto, vice chairman of the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi), urged young local players to optimize their efforts to gain good results. 'Our hope is one of our young players can produce good results,' said Utut, a former chess star now turned politician.
He said that the tournament could become a springboard into professionalism. 'I never burden them with targets, but encourage them to become professional players. As a professional player, they have their own targets,' he said.
The tournament provides the players a chance to build their ratings, as well as gain a grandmaster norm, the early stage toward attaining full grandmaster title.
Tournament official Kristianus Liem said that a player would need to score eight points from 11 rounds to gain a GM norm, while an IM (International Master) norm requires 5.5 points.
While last year's tournament also featured competition in an open category with participants coming from several parts of the country, this year's tournament is confined to only the GM tournament.
'Japfa still wants to show our support for a betterment of Indonesian chess, although it is not as big as previous tournaments,' said Japfa vice president of public relations Artsanti Alif.
