Junior Chess Champ Samantha Edithso to Play in U-12 Category
18 July 2018 11:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Junior chess athlete Samantha Edithso is set to participate in the 2018 Eastern Asian Youth tournament in August 1-10 in the 12 year old category following her success in clinching the U-10 category world title.
The Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) is positive that Samantha will be able to win at least one title from the three categories that are matched such as classic, rapid, and blitz. Players from other nations that are deemed to bring strong competition into the tournament is China, India, Iran, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
PB Percasi Head of coaching Kristianus Liem said that Samantha has a hefty chance to win the tournament for the fact that he sees the 10 year old athlete from Bandung is one of Indonesia’s best chess players to date.
“Samantha is the best talent that Indonesia has ever produced, she exceeds every talented chess players that I have handled all my life such as Susanto Megaranto, Irene Kharisma Sukandar, and Medina Warda Aulia,” said Liem on Tuesday, July 17.
Despite his complements, Liem is well aware that Samantha has her own weaknesses. According to him, Samantha currently could only comprehend the basic theory of a chess game and still lacks the finesse of applying the theories into a game.
“The theory of chess is complex and it needs an in-depth understanding to apply it in the right moment. She still has her weaknesses since she is understandably still very young,” Liem explained.
Samantha Edithso has collected numerous chess championship titles, one of it being the U-10 FIDE World Championship she won in June 2018 that was held in Minks, Belarus.
EDO JUVANO