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Vietnamese end ASEAN meet strongly

Vietnamese chess players dominated the 3rd Japfa ASEAN Chess Championship by taking the top two podiums in the open category at the end of the nine-day competition on Wednesday

Musthofid (The Jakarta Post)
Bekasi, West Java
Thu, December 31, 2015

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Vietnamese end ASEAN meet strongly

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ietnamese chess players dominated the 3rd Japfa ASEAN Chess Championship by taking the top two podiums in the open category at the end of the nine-day competition on Wednesday.

The Vietnamese delegation also won the top honor in the women'€™s category, courtesy of Nguyen Thi Mai Hung.

'€œWe rested our hopes on Susanto [Megaranto]. Anyhow, I tried to be realistic about our chances because we are not a power house in the region,'€ Utut Adianto, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi), told The Jakarta Post.

Susanto was the top seed and one of three competitors titled grandmasters in the tournament.

'€œWe have no other option but to work hard. The athletes must be aware that their future lies in their own hands,'€ he said.

After eleven rounds since Dec. 22, the tournament saw three players collect seven points each.

However, Nguyen Anh Khoi outscored fellow Vietnamese Dao Thien Hai and Philippines'€™ Jan Emmanuel Garcia on tiebreaks with 36.75 compared to Hai'€™s 36.00 and Garcia'€™s 35.75.

The Vietnamese duo secured the top two places after clinching wins in the last round at Sekolah Catur Utut Adianto (SCUA) chess school, which turned out to be the worst day for local players.

Khoi and Hai defeated Yoseph Theolifus Taher and Susanto. It was the only loss for under-performing Susanto, who could only draw in the other ten rounds.

The other local player to suffer a loss was Sean Winshand Cuhendi, who was defeated by bottom finisher Wynn Zaw Htun of Myanmar.

Despite the defeat, Yoseph, the only untitled player in the category, ended the tournament as one of Indonesia'€™s top scorers with 5.5 points, along with Muhammad Lutfi Ali.

The 5.5 points also earned Yoseph his second International Master (IM) norm, with his first collected during a tournament in Malaysia in 2013.



He will need to score a third norm to earn a full IM title.

While Susanto shot off mark, team manager Kristianus Liem was more concerned with Sean'€™s mediocre performance, which left him languishing in tenth place among 12 players.

The team expected Sean to carry on with his strong performance after triumphing at the recent national championship and Japfa grandmaster tournament.

'€œIt'€™s a rueful performance by Sean,'€ he said.

He mentioned both technical and non-technical issues behind Sean'€™s flop. He alleged his protégé of lacking seriousness while preparing for the tournament.

The women'€™s competition was also won by Vietnamese with Nguyen Thi Mai Hung finishing at the top of the standings, a point clear of her rivals.

Hung scored nine points, followed by Philippines'€™ Janelle Mae Frayna and Shania Mae Mendoza with eight and 7.5 points, respectively.

Indonesian hopeful Chelsie Monica Sihite had to settle with fourth place with 6.5 points, equal with Vietnamese Hoang Thi Nhu and Philippines'€™ Bernadette Galas.

The last round saw all, but one, matches in draws. The match between Citra Dewi and fellow Indonesian Dita Karenza rounded off decisively with the former coming out the winner.

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