BANDUNG, itb.ac.id - ITB Class of 1986, or more familiarly called ITB '86, held the 2019 National Student Chess Championship on Sunday (8/12/2019) at the West Hall, ITB Campus, Jalan Ganesa No. 10, Bandung. The competition called the '2019 Bidak Ganesha ITB86 Student Chess Championship 2019' was held to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Higher Engineering Education in Indonesia.   Arief Faizal, 1986 Geodesy Engineering Alumni as the Chief Executive, revealed that this activity was the second time since it was first held on 9 October 2016. At that time, chess competition was held as a series of the reunion event of ITB '86.  

"We are having a reunion, and we want to make it more impactful. Our reunion event is extraordinary, it maintains our relation," Arief said.  

The enthusiasm of 2016 chess competition was high. There were 260  talented students participated in the event. This became a strong reason for Arief and his colleagues to re-implement the National Student Chess Championship in 2019. Moreover, in 2016, the winner was a-8 years old boy, namely Samantha Editsho, that kicked out the high school participants.  

Furthermore, in 2018, Samantha became the winner of World Junior Women's Champion U10 Years and Woman FIDE Master (WFM). Arief said that chess competition can be a good start for talented kids who plays chess.

This year, applicants came from various regions of Indonesia with a total of 272 registrants. The participants were divided into eight categories, namely Elementary School (SD) grade 1-3 and 4-6, Junior High School (SMP), and Senior High School (SMA). Each of the classes divided into boys and girls. Arief revealed that there is a prize with a total of Rp 42 million. Also, the winners could get a full scholarship if they can get accepted at ITB.  

Through this event, Arief hopes that this event will become official in a series of national sports competitions. "In the future, we want this event to be the official platform for PERCASI (the Indonesian Chess Association), where each winner will get points for the national ranking,"  he concluded.

Reporter : Irfan Ibrahim (Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, 2016)

Translator : Billy Akbar Prabowo (Metallurgical Engineering 2020)