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Sean stuns Gopal of India in opening round
Chess queen: Sophie Milliet of France is ready to play her opening move in her match against Farid Firmansyah of Indonesia at the Japfa Grandmaster Chess Tournament in Jakarta on Wednesday
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span class="caption">Chess queen: Sophie Milliet of France is ready to play her opening move in her match against Farid Firmansyah of Indonesia at the Japfa Grandmaster Chess Tournament in Jakarta on Wednesday. JP/Wendra Ajistyatama
Young Indonesian Sean Winshand Cuhendi got off to a winning start, while defending champion Sergei Tiviakov of Netherlands was held to a draw in the opening round of the Japfa Grandmaster Chess Tournament on Wednesday.
Sean's victory over Geetha Narayanan Gopal came as a surprise, given his elo-rating of 2428, which is far below the Indian's 2577.
The 18-year-old Indonesian capitalized on Gopal's blunder in the 23rd move, according to Indonesian team manager Kristianus Liem.
'Gopal should have played the knight to b5, which would have given him an advantage in swapping the knight with a rook. Instead, he opted to move his queen to c7, which weakened his position,' Kris said.
Women's player Medina Warda Aulia also scored a stunning win, defeating fellow Indonesian Tirta Chandra Purnama in 33 moves of the Indian Queens game.
Muhammad Lutfi Ali and Farid Frimansyah had to settle for draws, the former with Antonio Rogelio of Philippines and the latter with Sophie Milliet of France.
Irine Kharisma Sukandar did not seem to have recovered from her elimination in the first round of the recent World Cup, with the top Indonesian women's player falling to Nguyen Anh Dung of Vietnam.
At the top-board match, Tiviakov failed to make any headway on Alina L'ami's, and had no option but to offer a draw.
L'ami said a perpetual check appeared possible when Tiviakov, the highest-rated player in the tournament, offered her a draw.
'I was surprised. She could have pushed further,' she told The Jakarta Post. 'Of course I'm happy that she offered me a draw.'
L'ami said that Tiviakov opted to play a quiet line of Sicilian game, which took her by surprise.
'I was expecting him to go for a different line but he went for a more quiet line,' she said.
'Maybe he wanted to take a rest because tomorrow we play two rounds,' she added.
Tiviakov will play Lutfi in the second round before taking on Farid in the third round in the afternoon on Thursday.
The Japfa tournament will consist of 11 rounds, with the 12 participants to face each other until April 22.
Sean's victory may augur well for the nation's hopes to have another Grand Master-titled player.
'It's has been my dream, also the nation's, for a new grandmaster to be born in Indonesia,' Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi said during the opening ceremony.
He urged young players to reach high for the Indonesian state.
Sean will need to score 8 points to win his first GM norm, which is the first step toward attaining a full GM title.
