Wesley So Juara Grand Chess Tour 2016

Jika Thailand memiliki kesebelasan sepakbolanya yang juara AFF Cup 2016, maka Phillipine bisa berbangga (pernah) punyai Wesley So. Grandmaster kelahiran Phillipina yang sekarang sudah menjadi warga negara USA, Wesley So, melengkapi tahun 2016nya yang penuh prestasi dengan menjadi juara umum Grand Chess Tour 2016. Turnamen catur Grand Chess Tour adalah seri turnamen paling bergengsi di planet bumi sekarang. Terdiri dari empat turnamen yang dilangsungkan di kota Paris, Leuven, St Louis dan London, Grand Chess Tour selalu diikuti pecatur top ten dunia.

Seri terakhir Grand Chess Tour ini adalah turnamen catur super di kota London. Sebanyak 10 pecatur berlaga di kota London dari tanggal 9 December 2016 hingga 18 Desember 2016. Sejak kick off di round 1, Wesley So langsung melaju dengan mengalahkan pecatur flamboyan Hikaru Nakamura, rekan senegaranya di babak 1.

Analisis partai catur dari chess.com, Hikaru Nakamura vs Wesley So 0-1, London 2016

Wesley So selanjutnya melaju dengan mengalahkan Michael Adams dan Veselin Topalov.

Wesley So vs Michael Adams 1-0, London 2016

Di akhir turnamen yang berlangsung sebanyak 9 ronde, Wesley So tampil setengah poin lebih tinggi dari saingan terdekatnya pecatur Fabiano Caruana. Wesley So sudah terlebih dahulu memenangkan seri sebelumnya di kota Saint Louis yaitu Sinquefield Cup 2016. Dia juga pemenang di kota Leuven. Sementara itu saingan terdekatnya Hikaru Nakamura hanya menjuarai turnamen di Paris. Dengan bekal kemenangan-kemenangan tersebut tercapailah cita-cita Wesley So untuk menjadi pecatur dengan prestasi super, juara umum Grand Chess Tour 2016. "Ini mungkin prestasi terhebat saya," ujar Wesley So setelah meraih tropi London Chess 2016 dan juga tropi Grand Chess Tour 2016.

The winner with his trophies! Congratulations again to Wesley So for winning #LondonChess and #GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/bkM3kP60P5

— Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour) December 18, 2016

Pecatur asli Asia Tenggara ini kelihatan sempat selalu dipandang sebelah mata oleh pecatur-pecatur top ten lainnya. Melalui sepak terjangnya di tahun 2016, banyak pecatur mulai membuka mata dan berkomentar bahwa Wesley So sekarang adalah salah satu kandidat kuat untuk bisa mematahkan hegemoni Magnus Carlsen sebagai juara dunia. Vishwanathan Anand sangat terkesima dengan prestasi Wesley So tahun ini, Anand mengatakan bahwa keberhasilan Wesley sangat terlihat mudah dan lancar. "Dia belum terkalahkan untuk jangka waktu yang sudah cukup lama..... " kata Anand tentang Wesley So. Akankah Wesley So menjadi pecatur Asia Tenggara pertama yang berhasil tampil dalam duel juara dunia catur kelak jika dia berhasil menjadi juara di turnamen kandidat? Yang jelas Wesley So sekarang sudah lebih makmur $ 100,000 dolar dari sebelumnya berkat hadiah utama dari Grand Chess Tour.

Hasil akhir London Chess 2016 :

1. Wesley So 6.0
2. Fabiano Caruana 5.5
3. Vladimir Kramnik 5.0
4. Viswanathan Anand 5.0
5. Hikaru Nakamura 5.0
6. Anish Giri 4.5
7. Levon Aronian 4.0
8. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 4.0
9. Michael Adams 4.0
10. Veselin Topalov 2.0

Website Official

Kegiatan catur di London 2016 juga menampilkan event turnamen catur sistem gugur, Knock Off British Championship 2016. Event British Knock Off 2016 ini dimenangkan pecatur gaek Nigel Short setelah di final mengalahkan GM David Howell.

Novendra and Ummi Won Japfa Chess 2016

As reported in this post, the Japfa chess tournament 2016 had started and now they just finished. Japfa Master International chess tournament 2016 won by FM Priasmoro Novendra (2353) and Japfa Women International Chess 2016 won by WFM Ummi Fisabililla. Both are from host country, Indonesia. The tournament saw a battle of 9 swiss rounds, happening in Hotel Novotel Jakarta from 5th to 11st December 2016. Chess masters such as IM Alexander Wohl and IM Alina L'Ami participated in Japfa tournament 2016 also.

Final Standings Japfa Master Chess 2016 :

1	11	FM	Priasmoro Novendra	INA	2353	7,0	38,00	0,0	5
2	6	FM	Setyaki Azarya Jodi	INA	2303	6,5	36,50	0,0	3
3	9	IM	Duong The Anh	VIE	2321	6,5	33,00	0,0	3

Final Standing Japfa Woman Master Chess 2016 :

1	6	WFM	Fisabilillah Ummi	INA	2118	7,5	37,00	0,0	5
2	5	WIM	Fronda Jan Jodilyn	PHI	2165	7,0	35,75	0,0	5
3	3	WIM	Le Kieu Thien Kim	VIE	2215	7,0	34,50	0,0	5

Bapak Ir Rachmad dari pihak SPONSOR PT JAPFA COMFEED Tbk selaku sponsor JAPFA Master International Chess Tournament merangkul para alumni Sekolah Catur UTUT ADIANTO yang mnejadi Juara 1 yaitu Ummi Fisabililah utk kategori Women International Chess Tournamnet dan Novendra P utk kategori Master International Chess Tournament

Photo : Djoni Chess

Japfa Chess is Indonesian annual chess event that started many years ago. PT japfa Comfeed Tbk is the main sponsor.

Japfa International Master Chess 2016 Started

Japfa International Master is started in Jakarta, Indonesia since December 5th 2016. The tournament is perhaps one of the longest international level event in Indonesia. Japfa chess already reach its 15th years in running. Many world renown chess master played in previous Japfa tournament such as Nigel Short, Alexander Khalifman, Judit Polgar all the way to current super star alike Wesley So.

The playing location for Japfa International Chess 2016 is Novotel Hotel in Jakarta. It will be 9 rounds swiss tournament. The first prize to be IDR 5,000,000 (approx. 400 USD). The tournament was won by IM Sean Winshand in 2015.

In this 2016 edition, the tournament dubbed as Japfa International Master Chess 2016. This field filled with 12 chess players. A mix of Indonesian younger chess player (and also veteran) fight with international master. Most of them come from nearby region such as IM Alexander Wohl from Australia and notably also female IM Alina L'Ami from Dutch. Rest of the field coming from Myanmar and Vietnam players.

Some of good news from home player are FM Priasmoro Novendra defeating IM Alexander Wohl. As the The Jakarta Post reported :

In the IM category, home young player Novendra Priasmoro, 17, also surprised the field by defeating IM Aleksandar Wohl of Australia in the second round. He stopped his opponents after 31 moves of a Ruy Lopez opening.

Holding the white pieces, Novendra discovered a decisive 21.b4, according to chess observer and event director Kristianus Liem in a release.

“Novendra offered to sacrifice a pawn, which left Aleksander in a dilemma. If he had taken the pawn, a thrust of a rook would have followed and Aleksander’s knight or bishop would have collapsed,” he said.

Round 5 standings for this group :

1	1	WGM	Hoang Thi Bao Tram	VIE	2324	3,5	9,00	0,0	3
2	3	IM	Wohl Aleksandar H.	AUS	2357	3,0	8,25	0,0	2
3	12	FM	Taher Yoseph Theolifus	INA	2353	3,0	6,75	0,0	2
4	9	IM	Duong The Anh	VIE	2321	3,0	6,25	0,0	1
5	2	IM	Sadikin The Irwanto	INA	2315	2,5	6,50	0,0	2
6	11	FM	Priasmoro Novendra	INA	2353	2,5	6,25	0,0	2
7	4	IM	L'ami Alina	ROU	2332	2,5	6,00	0,0	2
8	6	FM	Setyaki Azarya Jodi	INA	2303	2,5	5,50	0,0	0
9	5	IM	Nay Oo Kyaw Tun	MYA	2341	2,0	4,25	0,0	1
	7	IM	Wynn Zaw Htun	MYA	2390	2,0	4,25	0,0	1
	10	IM	Purnama Tirta Chandra	INA	2337	2,0	4,25	0,0	1
12	8	WGM	Aulia Medina Warda	INA	2373	1,5	4,25	0,0	0

There is also Japfa  Women International Master. In which our Indonesian new generation players are shaping their claw and muscle. Young WFM Parahita M. Legowo surprised the field by hitting the top rank after 5 round with 3.5/5 points. She was followed by her colleague WFM Ummi Fisabilillah, then Phillipined WIM Jan Jodilyn Fronda. All three with 3.5/5 points. 

Standing after Round 5 - Japfa International Women 2016

1	11	WFM	Legowo Parahita Millyena	INA	2136	3,5	8,50	0,0	2
2	6	WFM	Fisabilillah Ummi	INA	2118	3,5	8,25	0,0	3
3	5	WIM	Fronda Jan Jodilyn	PHI	2165	3,5	7,75	0,0	3
4	3	WIM	Le Kieu Thien Kim	VIE	2215	3,0	7,00	0,0	2
5	9	WFM	Lestari Baiq Vina	INA	2140	3,0	6,25	0,0	2
6	7	WFM	Tan Li Ting	MAS	2086	2,5	6,00	0,0	2
7	10		Luong Phuong Hanh	VIE	2156	2,5	5,00	0,0	2
8	12	WIM	Sihite Chelsie Monica Ignesia	INA	2198	2,5	4,50	0,0	2
9	1	WFM	Retno Wijayanti	INA	2183	2,5	4,25	0,0	2
10	2	WIM	Nur Abidah Shanti	INA	2038	1,5	3,25	0,0	0
11	8		May Hsu Lwin	MYA	2061	1,0	2,75	0,0	0
12	4		May Hsett Lwin	MYA	2073	1,0	2,50	0,0	0

There are no games available to show at the moment but there are several photos from media social:

Pertandingan catur STANDARD INTERNASIONAL FIDE RATED JAPFA MASTER CHESS TOURNAMENT dan CHALLENGER dibuka secara resmi hari Senin tgl 5 Desember2016 sore dgn salah satu kata sambutan dari Plt Ketua Umum PB PERCASI , bpk Drs Grand Master UTUT ADIANTO di Hotel NOVOTEL jalan Gajah Mada Jakarta - Photo Djoni Chess

International chess personalities eg IM Alina L'Ami come to visit Jakarta in Japfa Chess 2016. Alina L'Ami posted many wonderful street photography while in Jakarta in past year - Photo Djoni Chess

Alina won Japfa Chess in 2013

IM Aleksandar Wohl from Australia facing Indonesian IM Tirta Purnama Chandra. 

Photo source

Japfa Tournament in 2011