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Irine thankful and remorseful for beating mentor Tiviakov
Irine Kharisma Sukandar continued her improved performance at the Japfa Grandmaster Chess Tournament with her chess mentor, defending champion Sergei Tiviakov, becoming her victim in the fourth round on Friday
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Irine Kharisma Sukandar continued her improved performance at the Japfa Grandmaster Chess Tournament with her chess mentor, defending champion Sergei Tiviakov, becoming her victim in the fourth round on Friday.
However, Irine was both thankful and remorseful over her achievement, given the fact that Indonesia's number one female player had spent time learning chess tactics from the Russian-born Dutchman.
The victory may indicate that the 23-year-old Indonesian had built a deep understanding about the game from Tiviakov.
'I have learned a lot from him about positional play,' she said.
Tiviakov's mentorship of Irine began in April last year when the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) hired him to help the Indonesian team prepare for the Asian Championship.
His contract lasted only for a short time, but that apparently gave enough evidence to Irine that the Dutchman was the right person to teach her.
After receiving an endorsement from the head of Percasi's advisory board, Eka Putra Wirya, Irine had Tiviakov brought back to Indonesia the following September, exclusively for her.
'Pak Eka agreed and Tiviakov was back here for a month,' she said.
The mentorship continued in Sochi, Russia, last month as Irene prepared for the women's World Cup.
While being relieved by her win in Japfa's fourth round, Irine could not hide her feeling of contriteness for defeating her mentor.
'Sergei, sorry,' Irine said to the player, who happened to be walking past her while she was being interviewed.
Tiviakov praised his protégé.
'I'm impressed by the way you played. You gave me no chance,' he told Irine.
Irine had indeed given Tiviakov no chance to repair his position after he, according to Irine, slipped by making a weak move early in the game.
'I held a slight advantage that I could improve little by little. I had a superpower knight while his bishop was in a poor position,' she said.
Tiviakov eventually lost the bishop without compensation, which forced him to give up several moves later.
'He should have given in immediately, but he seemed to give himself time to test me a bit further,' Irine said, completing the game, which began with the Scandinavian Defense, in 41 moves.
The win paved the way for Irine to move to second place a full point behind Vietnamese Nguyen Anh Dung. She was tied with fellow Indonesian Sean Winshand Cuhendi at 2.5 points.
An impressive performance was also shown by Muhammad Lutfi Ali, who upset Geetha Narayanan Gopal of India. The young Indonesian player stopped Gopal after 47 moves in a game that started with the Spanish Opening.
