PT Japfa Comfeed Indonesia Tbk (JAPFA) once again conclusively demonstrates its commitment to raise the level of Indonesian chess players. Not just at the national level but now on the ASEAN stage.
JAPFA is sponsoring an international chess tournament recognised by FIDE as the JAPFA 3rd ASEAN Chess Championship 2015. This event supported by JAPFA at the end of the year is the third edition and will see the participation of chess players representing ASEAN nations.
“The support given by JAPFA for this competition is its ongoing commitment towards the development of young Indonesian talent’ stated R. Artsanti Alif, Vice President Head of PR JAPFA and then added. “We will continue to support the development of the game of chess in Indonesia through competition”.
JAPFA 3rd ASEAN Chess Championship is only open to players from the ten ASEAN nations which are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. This time around five nations are represented and they are Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, dan hosts Indonesia. Until now countries like Singapore have yet to enter players while some other do not have players that meet the eligibility requirements or players than are ready for this level of competition
“We selected the official championship of ASEAN because in this tournament GM and WGM norms are available for the winners” explained GM Utut Adianto, Head of JAPFA Chess Club and main representative of the PERCASI (Indonesian Chess Federation) Executive Committee.
There are three categories in the JAPFA 3rd ASEAN Chess Championship which are the ASEAN Open, ASEAN Women, dan Challengers. For the ASEAN Master dan ASEAN Women, each country is limited to a maximum of two entries except of course the host nation. The participants in the ASEAN Open must have a rating 2300 and above while the participants in the ASEAN Women need to have a rating 2100 and above. Men with ratings below 2300, and women with ratings below 2100 can only play in the Challengers.
PERCASI which is actively supporting its chess players in pursuit of GM and WGM norms and titles will field its best young talent who in the recent 45th National Championship was a huge sensation. IM Sean Winshand Cuhendi, then just 17 years of age, emerged as 2015 national Champion. He was also the winner of the JAPFA GM Chess Tournament held in April 2015.
In the ASEAN Women category, PERCASI has entered the winner and runner up of the national Championships, WIM Chelsie Monica Sihite, 20 years of age, and WFM Shanti Nur Abidah, 15 years of age. Chelsie has already one WGM norm from the Istanbul Olympiad in 2012 while Shanti is a young talent who has recently blossomed and was a medalist at the World Schools Championship held May this year in Pattaya, Thailand.
Prepared by Kristianus Liem and Peter Long
