TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Sean scrapes through to Japfa title
The 2015 Japfa Grandmaster Tournament concluded its 11-round competition on Wednesday with local young chess player Sean Winshand Cuhendi maintaining his no-loss record to top the 11-player standings
Change Size
The 2015 Japfa Grandmaster Tournament concluded its 11-round competition on Wednesday with local young chess player Sean Winshand Cuhendi maintaining his no-loss record to top the 11-player standings.
The 18-year-old booked four wins and seven draws to collect a total of 7.5 points, or half a point clear of the joint leader of the two-week competition up to that point, Nguyen Anh Dung of Vietnam.
Top seed and last year's champion Sergei Tiviakov of the Netherlands was in third position half a point behind.
'I began preparing myself for the games as soon as I was informed about the tournament. I read about the players' games. That made me more confident,' he said. His mother loyally supported him despite being confined to a wheelchair after injuring herself in an accident.
The final round could have resulted in favor of Anh Dung given the standings after 10 games, in which both players were tied at 7 points. Sean topped the standings only by virtue of his better tiebreak point.
Sean, who was paired against fellow Indonesian Medina Warda Aulia, was well aware that only a win could ensure the championship title given that the Vietnamese contender had been playing impressively throughout the tournament.
Hopes for a win did not materialize as Sean, despite holding white, failed to discover a winning formula against Medina's resolute defense. His hopes rested elsewhere. As it turned out later he had Farid to thank for the latter's cunning performance in his game.
Against Farid, Anh Dung looked to be suffering as he tried to defuse a ruthless offensive from Farid
Firmansyah, who managed to develop his Nimzo game cleverly by capitalizing on his opponent's weak moves early.
With his well placed bishops, Farid knew Anh Dung's submission was only a matter of time. His opponent desperately launched a last speculative maneuver by trying to sacrifice his knight, but Farid responded by forcing a trade of the queens, after which Anh Dung gave up his resistence with his pieces and pawns facing the prospect of falling apart.
Muhammad Lutfi Ali also put in an impressive performance against Sophie Milliet of France, whom he defeated after 29 moves.
The young Indonesian punished Milliet's bold early moves, during which she sacrificed two minor pieces for a rook.
She became helpless when Lutfi thrust his queen deep into her defense file. The last punishing move left Milliet with no option to salvage her game ' either she had to swap the queens with the consequences of Lutfi pushing his pawn to promotion or she lost her rook.
Irine Kharisma Sukandar and Rogelio Antonio Jr. of the Philippines also took their last wins on the day.
Irine bounced back from back-to-back losses with a hard-fought win over Tirta Chandra Purnama while Antonio needed 50 moves of a Nimzo game to stop Alina l'Ami of Romania.
The only draw on the day came in the game between Tiviakov and India's Geetha Narayanan Gopal. Both agreed to draw after completing 34 moves in a French game.
