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Ummi beats international master L’ami at JAPFA chess tournament
Battle of minds: Indonesian chess player WFM Ummi Fisabillilah makes her move against Romanian opponent IM Alina L’ami at the JAPFA Grand Master and Woman Grand Master Chess Tournament 2019 in Yogyakarta on Saturday
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attle of minds: Indonesian chess player WFM Ummi Fisabillilah makes her move against Romanian opponent IM Alina L’ami at the JAPFA Grand Master and Woman Grand Master Chess Tournament 2019 in Yogyakarta on Saturday.(JP/Bambang Muryanto)
Woman FIDE master (WFM) Ummi Fisabilillah of Indonesia outwitted international master (IM) Alina L’ami of Romania in the third round of the JAPFA Grandmaster and Woman Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2019 in Yogyakarta on Saturday.
The victory takes the 19-year old one step closer to the title of woman international master (WIM).
In Saturday’s battle, Ummi found a way to victory after L’ami made a blunder mid-bout. Ummi, who has an Elo rating of 2201, played offensively against L’ami (Elo 2293), the champion of JAPFA Chess 2013, to eventually own the match.
“I’m really happy to be able to defeat an opponent with a higher Elo rating,” said Ummi in a post-game interview in Yogyakarta.
Ummi has shown progress as of round three, with draws respectively against woman grandmaster (WGM) Gong Qianyun of Singapore (Elo 2381), the second-seed in the tournament, in Thursday’s opening round, as well as compatriot woman international master (WIM) Dewi Ardhiani Anastasia Citra (Elo 2205) in Friday’s second round.
Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) head of development and achievement Kristianus Liem said Ummi, who played the French Defense, opted for a strategic retreat at a point during the game.
“It was quite an uncommon move, because, [this] extra time [of retreating] triggered Alina to makes some inconsistent moves,” said Kristianus, referring to the effect that gave her the advantage.
To gain a norm for WIM, Ummi must collect 6 points in the Yogyakarta run, which will end on Friday.
Kristianus said the opportunity for Ummi to get the norm was widely open as long as she had the courage to play bravely even against compatriots and never settle for a draw throughout the competition.
Unfortunately, Indonesia’s IM Yoseph Theolifus Taher had to battle it out for four hours before eventually losing to grandmaster (GM) Ivan Sokolov of the Netherlands in the third round of the Grandmaster category.
“I had the opportunity to offer a draw, but at the end of the match, I made a blunder that made things uncontrollable,” said Yoseph (Elo 2446).
Kristianus nevertheless applauded Yoseph for not going down easily against second-seed Sokolov (Elo 2595).
In another Grandmaster match, the all-Indonesian face-off between GM Susanto Megaranto and WGM Medina Warda Aulia ended in a draw. Susanto is preparing for the 2019 Chess World Cup in Russia and Medina for the 2020 Woman’s World Chess Cup in Belarus.
