Hopes for WGM title dwindle

Medina was defeated by fellow Indonesian Chelsie Monica Sihite and now has to be content with 1.5 points after four of 10 rounds played at the Hotel Century.

For Chelsie, it was a big leap after she suffered two losses and a draw in her previous three games.

Medina has been touted as the next Indonesian WGM holder after Irene Kharisma. After collecting two norms, she will have to collect her third at the ongoing tournament for her to be crowned with a full WGM title.

To collect the norm, Medina will have to amass at least 6.5 points in 10 rounds of the tournament.

Kristianus Liem, a chess observer and official of the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi), said that after picking up her second loss, Medina could not afford more than one more loss in the remaining six rounds.

“It’s a tough task for the Indonesian player to collect 6.5 points,” he said as quoted by Antara. “Medina may be able to afford to lose another one. More than that means she has to bury her hopes for a WGM title at the moment,” he added.

Chelsie is chasing her first WGM norm.

The tournament, which will run until April 19, features six women chess players, including Medina and Chelsie, with the other four coming from overseas. A total of US$7,000 in prize money is up for grabs.

The invited players are Sophie Milliet and Natacha Benmesbah of France, Alina L’Ami of Romania and Slovakian Yulia Kochetkova.

In the other matches on Tuesday, Benmesbah beat L’Ami while Kochetkova won against Milliet.

The WGM tournament is part of the Japfa Chess Festival and is also staging matches in the open category, including those for young players.

“We are glad to have a lot of participants in this chess festival. Hopefully, there will be new young chess talents,” Eka Putra Wirya, chairman of the organizing committee, said during the opening ceremony on Monday.

“This event shows our commitment to continued chess development,” he said.

He said Percasi would bring in foreign chess trainers to help Indonesian players in preparation for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Myanmar in December.

“Currently we have Rustam Khusnutdinov from Kazhakstan, who has been assisting the players at the training camp. Next month we are going to have another three,” he said.