Brawijaya Chess Club (BCC), one of the Student Activity Units (UKM) of Universitas Brawijaya has succeeded in producing achievements at the international level through the 3rd Annual Kasparov Chess Foundation University Cup 2023. The tournament was held from Saturday to Sunday (4-5/2/2023) This event is held online via Zoom Meeting. Even though the competition was held online, Kasparov continued to give awards face to face in Bekasi as well as pay a visit to the Indonesian Chess Association (PERCASI).
In this event, BCC sent its representatives as many as 2 teams to take part in this tournament, consisting of Fernanda Agus Saputra Pribadi (Captain), Constantius Leonardo Pratama, Michael Owen, Mousa Hamdallah and M. Ikhsan Dani Putra (Reserves) in Team A.
Meanwhile, Team B consisted of Amelia Amanda (Captain), Adie Kharismatul Faj’ria, Aji Bagus Wicakson, Nelson Lau, Josenlie Angelo Chrismanuel Kaunang (Reserve) and Izzatuz Zuhroh (Reserve).
Each of the teams above succeeded in contributing champions in the tournament, namely Team A which won the Asian University category and the 2000-2199 category, while Team B won the unrated category. They have won this award for routine training which is carried out every Monday to Friday without a coach because every week they take turns to impart their knowledge to one another.
According to Fernanda as the Captain of Team A, the preparation of the two teams in this competition was lacking because at first they had seen the match database in 2022 and 2021 where the competition was very heavy.
“A week before closing, we just signed up. The consideration is that the competition is quite tight, namely more than 100 teams from all over the world, making this competition also free of charge,” he said. Fernanda also added that even though the two teams had less preparation somehow, most of the BCC athletes were used to doing routine training on their own.
“Both of my older brothers used to be chess athletes and it intrigued me when I saw them play the sport. This made me start studying when I was 6 years old. This sport suits me because when I was little, I was afraid of getting injured if I took part in other sports and there is no risk of injury in chess.” Fernanda’s story about the beginning of his experience to enter the world of chess.
Fernanda’s decision to choose to become a chess player led him to various other tournaments where he won various medals. With this, he only hopes that his friends from BCC will be more active in training and not get complacent, considering that there are still several important events that will be followed in the future. [Humas UB/ Trans. Iir]
