A Journey to Greatness: Chess in Indonesia

ON the seventh floor of Nusantara I Building of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (DPR RI) in Senayan area, Jakarta, Utut Adianto was welcoming a guest. In a room with a large oval table situated in the center, some of his colleagues were taking a lunch break. Utut himself chose to sit in the smaller adjacent room where he carried his day-to-day responsibility as the Floor Leader of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.

A pile of documents were jumbling on his desk. Numerous displays of a bull with white muzzle, the emblem of his party, adorned practically the entire room, with some chess memorabilia, including a demonstration board, placed in one of the corners.

Almost anyone would acknowledge Utut as one of the best chess players in Indonesia with a title of Grandmaster (GM) attached to his name. Even after deciding to retire both as a player and a coach, he never really distances himself from the perennial brain game that put his name in the industry's radar, as he also serves as the chair of the Executive Board of the Indonesian Chess Federation (PB Percasi) for the second period.

"Each time I visited a region, I donated chess boards, chess clocks, and chess demonstration boards. At least, the chess enthusiasts there would think, 'the chair of PB came here bringing something, and not expecting anything in return," said Utut while pointing at several goodie bags on which a Percasi logo was printed at a corner of his office.

In Utut's words, nurturing chess talents nowadays poses its own challenge. The fortunate fact is, Indonesia never runs out of bright people. Furthermore, chess is definitely not on the expensive side of a sport and is familiar to many social levels, as it is usually played in multiple modest coffee houses and in rural villages. Unfortunately, the propitious potential hasn't been properly explored, leveraged, and enhanced. The fund issue also hinders Percasi from doing further.

"Chess players are like fish, they are easy to find everywhere. The problem is, all chess affairs are managed by one single association, which is PB Percasi. Ideally, the talents should be managed by associations at the provincial level," said Utut. "We fathom that the situation is caused by limited funds.”

It is regrettable, because if we look back, many Indonesian chess players were recognized internationally. On top of that, far before the establishment of the Republic, many native chess masters, especially from Batak Land, were highly respected by the European top chess players.

Karonese Chess Players

"Schaak". That is how modern chess is called by the Dutch. They introduced modern chess with its standardized rules in Java at the end of the 19th century, and founded a number of chess clubs in several cities, establishing a joint association called Nederlandsch-Indische Schaakbond (NISB) in Yogyakarta in 1915.

"Yogyakarta took the initiative because at that time, D. Bleykmans, who had been dubbed as the 'chess prophet' of the Dutch East Indies for 25 years, lived there," wrote Frits Kilian Nicolas Harahap, former chair of Percasi from 1955 to 1965, in Sejarah Catur Indonesia.

As a matter of fact, chess has been popular in Indonesia for far much longer. Harahap noted that this board game was brought by the Indians between the 5th and 6th century, and was followed later by the Arabs. "The Arabs came here bringing religion and chess," wrote Harahap.

Over time, this "traditional chess" was avidly played by Nusantara people, especially the Karonese who adopted it as a part of their life. They played chess as a spare-time hobby in a coffee house or as a gambling, betting stuff, livestocks, and farms. The game was further developed and turned into what was famously known as ‘Karo chess’.

Karo chess has several distinctions compared to modern chess. First, the board is larger and the pieces are more than 32 as usually found in its modern counterpart. In Karo chess, there are additional 2-3 pieces behind the rook as the reserve pieces. If the other pawns are captured by the opponent, the spare will enter the board. Most of the time, players that have to utilize their spare pieces are weaker players that are contesting against the more seasoned players.

“However, the use of the spare pieces has to be discussed and agreed before,” wrote Tridah Bangun in Manusia Batak Karo.

The Karonese became familiar with modern chess after the establishment of the chess club Die Witte Societeit in Medan in 1910, from which many Karonese chess players, mostly blind, gained recognition from the European chess masters. One of the Karonese pro players was Si Hukum, who once beat Dutch’s chess master Max Euwe. Out of curiosity, Max interviewed Si Hukum.

"Dr. Euwe interviewed Si Hukum. The Batak chess player then showed his exceptionally accurate judgment,” wrote Het Volk newspaper on 25 October 1930.

In the following years, more and more extraordinary chess players were coming from the Karo Land; one of them was Cerdas Barus, a deaf chess player who achieved his GM title in 2002.

In Java, modern chess wasn’t only played by the Europeans, but also the natives and the Chinese people. They took the initiative to establish several clubs such as P.B.S, Langen Tjatoer, Koeda Poetih, Marsoedi Tjatoer Panglipoer, Tjatoer Semarang Weten, Roekoen Agawa Santosa, and Schaakvereeniging Horas.

In 1936, as cited from Algemeen Handelsblad voor Nederlandsch-Indië on 30 November 1936, the chess players from those clubs held a meeting in the residence of Raden Mas Ilyas in Redjosari, Semarang, Central Java, with an objective to establish a chess association. The committee was subsequently formed with Hadisoenarto as the chair. From that meeting, Persatoean Perkoempoelan Tjatoer Indonesia Semarang (PPTIS) was brought into existence, and was officially established later on in January 1937.

In the subsequent year, to rival NISB, the committee of PPTIS ensured a cooperation with chess associations in Solo, Surabaya, and Bandung to form Persatoean Tjatoer Seloeroeh Indonesia or abbreviated as Pertjasi (Percasi) with a headquarter in Semarang.

The Chess Masters

After a hiatus during the Japanese occupation, chess made its comeback in Indonesia. Percasi was revamped in 1948 although it was only 2 years after the federation's official initiation on 17 August 1950 when dr. Suwito Mangkusuwondo was chosen as the chair. Its first agendas were to promote chess and to prepare for the national championship that would be held 2 years later.

Through those endeavors, the Indonesian chess industry managed to welcome new names such as H. Rachmat, Ang Tjing Sing, and Arovah Bachtiar. During its reorganization in 1955, aside from relocating to Jakarta and forming regional commissions (now regional boards), Percasi also invited many world’s top players to Indonesia, opening opportunities for the local players to pick up some skills from those masters.

<div class="quotes-center font-g">In Hooghoven Tournament, Tan Hoan Liong beat several GMs such as Averbach (Soviet Union), Robatsch (Austria), Milic (Yugoslavia), and Pirc (Yugoslavia), all when he was just 23 years old! -Harahap.</div>

In 1956, Percasi invited Lodewijk Prins from the Netherlands to play in a simultaneous exhibition in Bogor, Bandung, Semarang, Medan, and Banjarmasin. Prins competed with Baris Hutagalung and Arovah Bachtiar, Indonesia’s best chess players at that time. Surprisingly, Prins was matched by Merlep Ginting, a Karonese chess player, in a 1-1 draw. Other than Prins, there was also GM Yuri Averbach from the Soviet Union who went against Baris Hutagalung and simultaneously played against seven chess players in Jakarta.

Percasi was run under Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI) and Indonesian Olympiad Committee (KOI). However, the less proactive approach of KOI made it difficult for Percasi to achieve their long-time goal to become a member of the World Chess Federation or FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs).

In 1960, three months before the 14th Chess Olympiad, Harahap as the chair of Percasi sent a letter to FIDE President Folke Rogard to apply as a member of FIDE and to express Indonesia’s wish to take part in the Olympiad.

“Fortunately, Folke replied with a permission for Indonesia to send a team to Leipzig, and a notice that Indonesia had been accepted as a FIDE member,” said Harahap.

Indonesia completed the Olympiad’s lineup as the 40th participant.  Preparation was hastened. Four players plus a substitute were chosen based on the result of the National Championship V in Medan, 6-13 August 1960. The team consisted of Max Arie Wotulo, Arovah Bachtiar, Abubakar Baswedan, Tan Hoan Liong, and Dame Panggabean as a substitute.

The 14th Chess Olympiad was held in Leipzig, then East Germany, from October to November 1960. Indonesia was sorted into Group 1. During the elimination round, Indonesia only managed to place on the seventh spot, giving them the ticket to Final C round competing with the other teams from the entire groups that were also placed on the 7th-10th spot. In the ultimate round, Indonesia took second place. Fortunately, Indonesia’s Tan Hoan Liong grabbed the competition’s coveted individual gold medal.

The Chess Olympiad in Leipzig was the stepping stone for many Indonesian chess players to be recognized by the industry and to earn FIDE’s prestigious titles: Candidate Master (CM), FIDE Master (FM), International Master (IM), and Grandmaster (GM).

“To achieve those ranks, players must collect Elo rating. The points can only be gained through participating in international championships recognized by FIDE,” said Deputy General Secretary of PB Percasi Nanang Surahman Agung Pujalaksana Nanang.

Elo rating is a level or ranking system used by FIDE, named after the initiator Arpad Emmerich Elo, a Hungarian-American physicist and chess player. In each competition, the winning player takes the point of the losing opponent. The more players compete and win, the higher their Elo rating and rank will be.

“On national championships, players can’t get FIDE’s Elo rating, they can only claim the National Master title,” said Nanang.

Upon the joining of Percasi as a member of FIDE, the opportunities for Indonesian players to claim prestigious titles became more feasible. The first Indonesian chess player holding the IM title was Tan Hoan Liong, a Chinese descent born in Bogor, West Java, from a father who worked as a steel entrepreneur, Tan Eng Djie. In 1956, he went to the Netherlands to pursue education while improving his chess skill by joining a club named Verenigd Amsterdamsch Schaakgenootschap. With his own money, he participated in several championships, including the annual Hooghoven Tournament.

Tan received his IM title in 1962 after going through a series of hard-won international tournaments such as IBM International Tournament in Amsterdam and Hooghoven Tournament.

“In Hooghoven Tournament, Tan Hoan Liong beat many GMs such as Averbach (the Soviet Union), Robatsch (Austria), Milic (Yugoslavia), and Pirc (Yugoslavia), all when he was just 23 years old!” wrote Harahap.

Tan's title ensured Indonesia's eligibility to hold its first Zonal Tournament in Jakarta that drew participation of the chess players in Zone 10 (Southeast Asia and Oceania). In that tournament held in September 1963, Arovah Bachtiar from Indonesia shared the top two positions with Bela Berger, a Hungarian-Australian chess player. In the deciding additional game, Arovah unfortunately had to admit his opponent's triumph.

Arovah himself was part of Indonesia's national chess team for Chess Olympiad and Asian team championship. He achieved his IM title in 1978. Before Arovah, there were Ardiansyah and Dr. Wotulo who got their respective IM titles in the Zonal Tournament in Singapore, 1969.

"Hoan's achievement is essentially a lighthouse for his fellow chess players," said Harahap.

A more outstanding victory was clinched by Herman Suradiradja, a chess player born in Sukabumi. After a failure in the 1966 Chess Olympiad in Havana, Kuba, he was determined to develop his expertise in Bulgaria, in which his father was working as a diplomat. Just like the other chess players, Herman had to use his personal fund to build his career, hiring GM Evgeny Ermenko as his coach and participating in various international tournaments. In a tournament in Primorsko in 1977, he won the paramount position and was entitled to hold the GM title.

Herman's footstep was later followed by Utut Adianto, who got acquainted with Herman because of his father. A self-taught player, Utut participated in and won many village level tournaments. His skill was sharpened even more after joining a chess club in Jakarta. It didn't take long for Utut to take the first spot at Junior Regional Championship DKI in 1978, Junior National Championship in 1979, and Indonesian Chess Championship in 1982.

Utut was also quite lucky, as his career was backed by a number of figures, including Governor of Bank Indonesia Rachmat Saleh. Some of his friends, one of them was Eka Putra Wirya, also sponsored him to take part in chess tournaments.

Utut, whose highest Elo rating is 2615, was granted the GM title in 1986 through Chess Olympiad in Dubai, Uni Arab Emirates, when he was only 21 years old, making him the youngest Indonesian player to achieve such a feat, a record that would only be broken 18 years later. In the same year and event, Ardiansyah also got his GM title, attaining the highest Elo rating of 2480, making history as the third Indonesian who achieved the major title.

Regrettably, the remarkable achievements of all those chess masters were not resulting from the supervision of Percasi, as there was no scheme nor blueprint whatsoever regarding the coaching of Indonesian chess talents.

"In the past, the coaching system was very lousy and very simple. Usually, the talents have to practice on their own. The championships were also different from present days. There was no provincial and regional level. There's only one occasion, the national championship. That was the situation back then," explained Utut.

<div class="quotes-center font-g">"IBM introduced computers to chess in 1976. Since then, chess developed massively and every chess player owned a laptop. I also brought my first laptop in 1993 for the New York Open. I won because I had the complete database of my competitors," said Utut.</div>

Scientific Approach

In 1992, Indonesia took part in the 30th Chess Olympiad in Manila, Philippines, sending three teams consisted of Nasib Ginting, Edhi Handoko, Hendrik Poha, Hamdani Rudin, Salor Sitanggang, Utut Adianto, and Lindri Juni Wijayanti. The team's achievement, unfortunately, didn't live up to the expectation.

Eka Putra Wirya, the holder of the National Master title in 1991 and the Head of General Division of PB Percasi, eventually made a significant breakthrough. Based on his advice, for the first time ever, Percasi recruited a foreign coach, Yugoslavia's GM Stefan Djuric. Eka also introduced methodical and scientific approaches to chess and created a coaching system that didn't solely rely on the players’ talents.

"When I was the chef de mission in (the Olympiad in) Philippines, I saw everyone there was already using a laptop that stored the players' database. At the time, I saw Utut was always busy reading lots of books before his match, while none of his fellow Indonesian players did the same. They didn't do any research," revealed Eka in his biography Eka Putra Wirya: Check Mate! From Zero to Hero written by S. Dian Andryanto. "Science comprises 60 percent of modern chess nowadays."

Eka worked with Utut Adianto to experiment the use of computer technology in chess. The two had known each other since 1977 from their days in Jayakarta Muda chess club. Spending money from his own pocket, he funded Utut to compete in several international tournaments.

"IBM introduced computers to chess in 1976. Since then, chess developed massively and every chess player owned a laptop. I also brought my first laptop in 1993 for the New York Open. I won because I had the complete database of my competitors," said Utut.

Striving for more, Eka used Utut's name to attract more interest in chess and to inspire the young chess-player-to-be. "Indonesia will do great if we have a chess star that inspires the local chess players and at the same time, is admired by foreign players. You have to be a Super GM to do this," suggested Eka to Utut. Super GM is a titular title and is not awarded officially by FIDE. Most of the time, the titular title Super GM is held by a world chess player whose Elo rating is higher than 2600.

Utut accepted Eka's challenge. From 1994 to 1997, Eka consecutively invited several foreign chess top players for a duel with Utut: GM Yaser Seirawan from the United States, GM Nigel Short from United Kingdom, WGM Judit Polgár of Hungaria, and GM Anatoly Karpov of Russia.

"At the time of the competition in Omni Batavia Hotel, Karpov was a world champion. The winner was awarded 50,000 dollars, while the defeated opponents only got 30,000 dollars. The hotel ballroom was packed with people. We aired it live through a huge TV screen, and there was also a live stream by RRI," recalled Utut.

Eka's effort in promoting chess was also followed by Percasi who actively stimulated the interest from the public by holding a duel between GM Anatoly Karpov vs GM Jan Timman from the Netherlands in 1993 in Jakarta. To provide more access to chess knowledge, Percasi imported English chess books and consistently published articles about chess in Sportif and Intisari Catur magazines.

"We acquired the license from America, Inside Chess, with additional local coverage about chess," said Kristianus Liem, current Head of Performance Coaching Division of PB Percasi.

Percasi also held various official tournaments recognized by FIDE such as the 12th Asia-Pacific Zonal Tournament, Women Interzonal Tournament 1993, and Gunadarma International Grandmaster Tournament Indonesia 1994.

Their efforts didn't go unnoticed. The Indonesian chess world was rejuvenated, and the public interest in the sport greatly increased.

Another crucial step in improving the national awareness of chess was taken by Eka Putra Wirya, Utut Adianto, Kristianus Liem, and Machnan R. Kamaluddin. On 1 July 1993, they initiated the establishment of Sekolah Catur Enerpac (Enerpac Chess School or SCE), borrowing the name of a hydraulic product from the United States marketed by Eka. The school had a mission to discover, nurture, and introduce young talents to the chess world, a quest long abandoned by both the central and regional chess associations.

Two years later, SCE was set to be managed under Percasi and its name was changed to Sekolah Catur Utut Adianto (Utut Adianto Chess School or SCUA), in the hope that the new name would boost the popularity of chess and increase the number of students.

Until recently, SCUA has opened several branches in other big cities such as Tangerang, Depok, Semarang, and Yogyakarta. In addition to offering computer sets, SCE also formulates the coaching and training model based on the methods used by countries such as the United States, Western Europe, and Russia.

"During that era, those countries really kept their chess-related information tightly, but eventually, we could gather some knowledge regarding the chess training in Soviet Chess School through the help of Mr. Eka's chess colleagues overseas," said Kristianus who was also appointed as the director of SCE.

<div class="flex-content-podcast"><figure class="img-left"><div><img src="https://assets-global.website-files.com/61af270884f7a0580d35618e/6225a5ead8c9b83f11f3ec0c_Intersection-5-1.png" alt="img"></div><figcaption>The Dream Team Championship in 2002. (Repro)</figcaption></figure><div class="img-right"><div class="podcast-container"><img alt="person" class="entered loaded" data-ll-status="loaded" src="https://assets-global.website-files.com/61af270884f7a0580d35618e/6225a5f0ac5f334999cbdd55_Intersection%206.png"><div class="audio-podcast"><audio controls controlsList="nodownload"><source src="https://d220hvstrn183r.cloudfront.net/premium/hitam-putih-catur-indonesia/Lindri%20profil.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">Your browser does not support the audio element.</audio></div></div><div class="caption"><span><b>Lindri Yuni Wijayanti, </b><br>Woman International Master (WIM) in 1993. (Fernando Randy/Historia.ID)</span></div></div></div>

<div class="video-content"> <video class="lazy entered loaded" controls="" controlsList="nodownload" width="100%" data-ll-status="loaded" src="https://d220hvstrn183r.cloudfront.net/premium/hitam-putih-catur-indonesia/Video%20Hitam%20Putih%20Catur%20di%20Indonesia%20rev02.mp4"></video></div>

Realizing the Dream

In 1995, Utut Adianto took the position of the Head of Junior Talent Scout of PB Percasi. Alongside Eka, he initiated "The Dream Team" program to develop the talents of young chess players. The children were scouted from national chess competitions and national championship age groups, and were sent to train in SCE. These young talents included Taufik Halay, Hastomo, Erwin Yulianto, Tirta Chandra, Susanto Megaranto, and Evi Lindiawati.

"The Dream Team" program garnered positive results. In U-22 Chess Olympiad 2002 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Indonesia's team bagged the bronze medal. Later, in 2004, Susanto Megaranto became the youngest GM at the age of 17, surpassing Utut Adianto's record by four year difference.

After the success, Percasi began to aim for potential women chess players. In 1996, the Indonesian women's team recorded a fairly solid achievement: 11th rank in the Chess Olympiad in Yerevan, Armenia. "That rank hasn't been surpassed until now," said Lindri Yuni Wijayanti, the holder of Woman International Master (WIM) title in 1993, who participated in the prestigious competition.

The promising potential couldn't go to waste. Eka monitored several events closely and noticed the talent of Irene Kharisma Sukandar, who at the age of 9 won the National Chess Circuit 2001 for U-14 women team. Irene was then trained under SCUA, which brought her to finally become the first Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Indonesia has ever had in 2009.

The favorable outcome eventually generated "The Dream Girls" program in 2009, consisting of Medina Warda Aulia, Chelsie Monica Sihite, and Dewi Ardhiani Anastasia Citra, who were also trained under SCUA. Through the program, Medina managed to acquire her WGM title in 2013.

The coaching program is still run even after Utut succeeded the position of interim chair of PB Percasi (2004-2005), deputy chair of PB Percasi (2005-2009 and 2010-2013), and now the chair of PB Percasi (2007-now).

Despite many impressive achievements resulting from the program, Utut admits the difficulty in realizing the ideal coaching concept that is applicable for both national and regional level. According to him, ideally, someone who aspires to be a GM or WGM has to join a club and compete in regional and national championships.

“We consider the national championship as a benchmark. The winner is prioritized, but sometimes if we have additional funds, we send the 2nd and 3rd winner to ASEAN Age Group,” said Kristianus.

<div class="quotes-center font-g">Ideally it must start at the regency level. If we can do it, we will soon be the chess powerhouse in the world. - Utut Adianto</div>

<div class="flex-content-podcast"><figure class="img-left"><div><img src="https://assets-global.website-files.com/61af270884f7a0580d35618e/62259ae5ebef9592562c7ac8_Intersection%205.png" alt="img"></div><figcaption>The Dream Team in 2002. (Repro)</figcaption></figure><div class="img-right"><div class="podcast-container"><img alt="person" class="entered loaded" data-ll-status="loaded" src="https://assets-global.website-files.com/61af270884f7a0580d35618e/6225a6b48ffdf43c1aecfd10_Intersection%206-2.jpg"><div class="audio-podcast"><audio controls controlsList="nodownload"><source src="https://d220hvstrn183r.cloudfront.net/premium/hitam-putih-catur-indonesia/Utut%20profile.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">Your browser does not support the audio element.</audio></div></div><div class="caption"><span><b>Utut Ardianto.</b><br>(Fernando Randy/Historia.ID).</span></div></div></div>

Even though those players are sent to ASEAN Age Group, they aren't guaranteed a place in the national training center (pelatnas). Usually, they will have to receive another training and are sent to bigger events such as junior world championship or U-14 to U-18 tournaments.

Utut refused to give up to the limitations. In 2017, he and Eka, who was a member of PB Percasi's Board of Supervisors, formed Dream Team II that included eight chess players. To strengthen the team's basic skills, Percasi invited a coach from Belarus, GM Andrei Kovalev.

Utut also collaborated with PT Japfa Comfeed to train junior chess players. In order for the young players to gain more experience, and perhaps bring medals home, they were sent to many championships in Eastern Asia. The result was quite satisfying. In Eastern Asia Youth Chess Championship in China in 2018, Indonesian chess players won seven gold medals.

“Many records are constantly beaten. Earlier, four players were qualified for the Chess World Cup 2021 and that’s a record. In 2019, we won two championship titles in Eastern Chess Championship. Susanto (Megaranto) won the men's competition, while Medina (Warda Aulia) won the women's competition, and it’s a new record,” explained Kristianus Liem in an interview in SCUA Bekasi. “The recent one, in the 2019 SEA Games, we managed to be the country with the most medals (2 golds, 3 silvers, 1 bronze). We have never won such a title before.”

However, it is worth admitting that Indonesia hasn’t been able to balance the domination of the Western and Eastern European, especially in the Chess World Cup and Chess Olympiad. In other words, there is still much homework for Percasi to be done.

Since its establishment, the federation has encountered many fundamental problems: all affairs regarding chess are managed by PB Percasi alone. However, Utut firmly believes in the bright future of Indonesian chess if they can discover and coach the chess talents from the smallest regional level.

“Ideally it must start at the regency level. If we can do it, we will soon be the chess powerhouse in the world,” said Utut.*