Australian chess player GM Temur Kuybokarov no longer leads the standings in the Grand Master category of the 2024 Pertamina Indonesian GM Tournament which was held at the Artotel Gelora Senayan Hotel, Jakarta.
In the sixth round which took place on Saturday (27/4), he lost to two chess athletes from the host GM Novendra Priasmoro. In fact, he had to accept a draw when he faced IM Medina Warda Aulia, once more an Indonesian chess player, in the 7th match on the same day.
After the match once morest Kuybokarov, Novendra said that he knew his opponent’s game very well. “I beat Kuybokarov some time ago and I was able to win the match once more because the pattern of play was still the same as before,” said Novendra.
This bad result means that Indonesian chess player Aditya Bagus Arfan is now at the top of the Grand Master category standings. Moreover, Aditya was able to achieve positive results when playing rounds 6 and 7. Aditya has now collected 5.5 points from the 7 matches he has played.
Of the two matches he competed in, the 17 year old chess player had to settle for winning 0.5 points when he faced the Philippine chess legend, GM Eugene Torre in the 6th match and beat his compatriot, IM Yoseph Taher.
“Very grateful to be able to achieve maximum results following playing tiringly when we met Torre in round 6,” said Aditya.
Aditya believes that to achieve his first GM norm, the opponents he will face in the last four matches will all be tough opponents. They are Mongolian chess player IM Agibileg Uurtsaikh, IM Liu Xiangyi from Singapore, IM Medina Warda Aulia, and GM Novendra Priasmoro.
In the 8th match on Monday (29/4) in an event sponsored by Bank Mandiri, Aditya was challenged by chess player Liu Xiangyi. (Z-6)
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