The leader of the Student-Grandmasters’ Cup of RSSU in Memoriam Alexander Pochinok came to Moscow from distant Indonesia. After her 2nd winб Irene Kharisma Sukandar kindly agreed to give a short interview to our correspondent.
- Irene, please tell us what happened in your first and second games.
- In the first game I was a bit lucky. Actually I knew my opponent was very strong but yesterday she didn’t play her best. By move 14 I was already much better and managed to win easily after that.
The second round was pretty hard. I chose the wrong move order in the opening and after that I was just trying to defend my position because it was clearly better for my opponent. I just tried to equalize it and succeeded. In an equal position I tried to exploit more advantage and finally I managed to do it. We reached a rook endgame where she made some positional mistakes. And after that it was pretty easy for me to get a passed pawn, and then I just pushed all my pawns and won.
- You have a good start. Is it your first time at Moscow Open?
- Yes. Actually this is my second time in Russia: before I played at the Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk.
- What do you think about the Russian capital and the festival?
- Moscow has always been my must-visit city because I travel quite a lot but I’d never been here before. So I decided to come here. I know and I can see it now that chess in Moscow has a very good atmosphere, everyone plays chess here. It’s a bit cold currently (laughing) but I like winter, so it’s not a problem for me.
- What is the situation with chess in your country?
- I cannot say that chess is popular in Indonesia, but still many people play it. Sure it’s not as popular as in Russia or any other ex-Soviet country. Chess doesn’t come into school, into school curriculum. It’s studied as an extra-curricular activity, but it’s not required.
We do have chess schools, chess clubs but still - compared with Russia we have nothing.
- Do you have chess activities in universities, like here in RSSU?
- Yes, we do, especially in Gunadarma University where I study. That’s why I’m playing in the student’s tournament, by the way.
- Are there Russian chess coaches in Indonesia?
- Actually I’ve been working with foreign trainers since I was 13 years old and several of them are Russians. For example, I worked with Ruslan Scherbakov.
- Are you one of the strongest players in your country?
- In female chess I am, in male chess I think I may be in the top 10. The top-ranked men in Indonesia haven't been improving much over the last decade, but our women chess players are really good. Maybe it’s a great sign for the Indonesian chess future.
- Thank you Irene and good luck!
- Thank you!
Interview by Eteri Kublashvili