Indonesia set for Tromso

Indonesia will send a mens and womens team comprising five players each to the games, Kristianus Liem, the chairman of Percasis performance affairs, said.

The players had improved a lot, so he was optimistic they could improve their rankings from what they had achieved in the last Chess Olympics in Istanbul, Turkey, two years ago, he said.

“The progress shown by the players has been very good, especially Medina and Irene, and we hope we can break into the group of the world’s top 20 players from 181 participating countries,” he said.

The Indonesian womens team has so far been ranked 24th while the mens team is ranked 73rd .

At present, the players are playing trial matches in Pardubice Chess Festival in the Czech Republic until Sunday before leaving for Tromso.

The trials in Europe, as well as training under foreign coaches, were a part of the strategy to challenge the best players at the championship, he said.

“Every time we pair up abroad we also study the style of our opponents and see their strengths and weaknesses using our database. We have so far collected more than six million matches,” he said.

Efforts had also been made to find a variety of openings that could neutralize the opponents strength and a new step to mentally surprise the opponent, he said.

“A Swiss match system may be used but detailed strategies may be different at every stage in line with the condition of the last opponent,” he said.

Various strategies would be needed in view of the tighter competition, he said.

“There are a lot of competitors, especially from the breakaway states of the former Soviet Union and East Europe. The performance in Western and Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the US has advanced fast,” he said.

Players from Arab countries such as Iraq and Qatar have also drawn attention to themselves because of the way they have improved in the past five years, he said.

Asian players are also strong competitors with the Chinese womens team now the worlds number one while India is number five. Vietnamese players are also good, he said.

Although their rivals are strong, Kristianus hoped the Indonesian team could still achieve the target.

The Indonesian womens team comprises Irene Kharisma Sukandar, Medina Warda Aulia, Chlesie Monica Ignesias Sihite, Dewi Adrhiani Anastasia Citra and Ummi Fisabilillah.

The mens team meanwhile includes Susanto Megaranto, M Luthfi Ali, Farid Firmansyah, Novendra Prihasmoro and Azarya Jody Setyaki.