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AKARTA: Indonesian chess player Chelsie Monica Sihite, who is only seeded 23rd, put in an impressive performance to defeat sixth seed Women’s Grandmaster (WGM) Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia in the 10th round of the World Junior Chess Championship in Athens, Greece, on Sunday (Monday Jakarta time).

The tournament uses the 13-round Swiss system and will run until Wednesday.

Playing black, Chelsie employed restraint and accuracy during the game to deny Aleksandra’s attempted promotion of her free pawn, according team manager Kristianus Liem in a release.

After shaking off her opponent’s offense, Chelsie began her counterattack in the 49th move and managed to build a free pawn for promotion. The Russian conceded 15 moves later realizing she would have had to sacrifice a knight to prevent Chelsie’s pawn promotion.

The win gave Chelsie 7 points to stay in 4-7 rankings, half a point behind the top place shared by WGM Guo Qi of China, defending champion WGM Cori T Deysi of Peru and International Women’s Master Meri Arabidze of Georgia.

The Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) has sent two female and two male players to the under-20s tournament. The other female player is Women’s FIDE Master Medina Warda Aulia while the boys are Farid Firman Syah and Muhammad Lutfi Ali.

It is Indonesia’s first appearance in 20 years. “We need to know Indonesia’s players’ position in the world chess map,” Utut Adianto, Percasi deputy chairman, said, referring to the decision to return to the tournament.