Jakarta, IO – After having finished the battle in the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India, 28 July-9 August alongside the Indonesian national chess team, Irene Kharisma Sukandar did not go straight back home to Indonesia. She went to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, instead – to battle in the 28th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival, 17-25 August 2022.
Irene did well: she won her second Grandmaster Norm after forcing a draw on GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2571) from India in the Finals. That was an additional 5 points wrested from her 9 matches – enough to achieve another GM Norm, as she battled with 7 GMs in her matches (two wins (from GM Jobava Baadur (2585, Georgia) and GM Robert Hovhannisyan (2599, Armenia), two draws, three losses).
To repeat, this is Irene’s second GM Norm. She achieved her first GM Norm when she became the Asian Continental Champion in the tournament in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in 2012. “Hahaha… Oh dear, it took me 10 years to get my second GM Norm,” she said in a statement published by the Indonesian Chess Federation Top Management (Pengurus Besar Persatuan Catur Seluruh Indonesia – “PB Percasi”) PR Division.
PB Percasi was simply ecstatic over Irene’s second Grandmaster Norm. “That was our third great news in August,” said PB Percasi General Chairman and Indonesia’s chess living legend, GM Utut Adianto. “We start to reap the results of our National Centralized Practice programs one by one. Let us support our children so that they may achieve more, and so that they can live off chess,” he said.