Tahan Chess Indonesian style- A reminiscence
It's funny how one remembers decades-old chess stuff so clearly like it happened yesterday especially one can forget the simplest things (like what food to buy when you just got told minutes ago).
Yesterday, my Indonesian friend NM Heri Darmanto invited me (thanks a lot!) to send some 'good Singapore players' to participate in an online event sponsored by KSK insurance.
So I hauled in a couple of dudes (a friend and a student) and we got to play 11 rounds of blitz with Indonesians. In round 10, my opponent was 60 year old veteran IM Ronny Gunawan, a name from the distant past when I started out playing chess. And it brought back memories of an epic game of his which I witnessed live 33 years ago!
One year after I learnt chess seriously, in 1987, Singapore hosted the Asian Team Championships at the National University of Singapore and it was marvelous to spectate close up as IMs and GMs play in clear sight and we could watch about 3 metres away. So we could see their expressions and demeanour in full flight in the heat of battle. I was very excited to watch the proceedings and in Round 3, Singapore faced Indonesia in a battle which ultimately decided 2nd (Indonesia) and 3rd (Singapore) placings.
Indonesia beat us 3-1, with our IM Tan Lian Ann ousting their GM Herman Ardiansyah on top board while on the other 3 boards, IMs Gunawan, Handoko (now GM) and untitled Cerdas Barus (now GM) winning against Alphonsus Chia (now FM), National Champion Dr Derrick Heng and IM Wong Meng Kong (now GM) respectively.
The game which caught my eye was the following one where IM Ronny Gunawan had to fend off an extremely dangerous Budapest Gambit with White. In those days, the Indonesians used to turn up for events decked in batik-shirts so as he played on with this relaxed look on his face, it seemed like he was on holiday rather than competing for his country. His coolness under extreme pressure, without a semblance of panic or agitation while Alphonsus pressed on was indeed an ephiphany for me. Of course, if you just bean count with engine analysis of the moves that transpired, you would say he was lucky, surviving the killer moves Alphonsus might have found. You have to see it live to know that things aren't so easy in the heat of the battle with the clock ticking furiously on as both sides tried to take the point in a crucial match. The English would call what Ronny did to ward off the attack - the theory of infinite resistance (as coined by GM Rowson) but in this part of the world, we call it Tahan chess, so you know what kind of chess Singapore's IM Dr Hsu Li Yang plays, since his handle is called Tahaned2015. OK..enough chatter...see it for yourself...why this game made such a big impression on me when I was picking up the ropes on tournament chess.
