Indonesian chess contingent gives Asian games a miss to train in Europe
Agnes Winarti , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta Thu, 10/29/2009 1:54 PM Sports
Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) has chosen to skip the Asian Indoor Games, opting instead to tour Europe, with the view of enhancing their gold medal chances at the 2011 Southeast Asian Games.
The 10-day competition that will begin in Vietnam on Friday, could have been a good warm up for Indonesian athletes preparing to compete at the upcoming Southeast Asian games in December.
However, as chess will not be featured in the Laos Southeast Asian Games, Percasi has decided to concentrate on honing the chess players’ skills by allowing them to compete in Europe.
“Our priority is to make Irene Kharisma and Susanto Megaranto world-class chess players through extensive practise in Europe,” Percasi deputy chairman Eka Putra Wirya told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Irene has become the first Indonesian chess player to attain a women’s grand master while Susanto is touted to follow his predecessor Utut Adianto as a player to be able to reach a rating of over 2600.
During their European tour, Irene and Susanto will be closely observed by a trainer from Ukraine.
“We are optimistic we will win two or three gold medals in the 2011 Southeast Asian Games,” said Eka.
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What a waste of money.
Sponsor is needed to become a world class, not just a GM with 2500s rating.
Surely, money is needed for acconodation in Europe, Training etc.
As Indonesian proverbs says:
” No Money – Nodong…..
” No Celana – Nongol…..
The careers of the two most promising chess players in Asean are going into opposite directions. GM Wesley So is going up and made notable wins in the recents World Qualifying Championships and GM Megaranto is going down and now has below 2600 elo rating. What’s wrong with PERCASI?