The national anthem “Indonesia Raya” reverberated in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, when Samantha Edithso, 10, stood at the top of the podium of the World Cadet Chess Championship on Friday, mid-November.
By
Emilius Caesar Alexey
·6 minutes read
PERCASI ARCHIVE
Samantha Edithso, 10, accompanied by Kristianus Liem, head of the performance development section of the Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi), shows her medal and cup after winning the U-10 2018 World Cadet Chess Championship in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on Friday (16/11/2018). Samantha is the second Indonesian chess player to win a world chess champion title in the cadet category. In 1989, Irwin Irnandi was world chess champion in the U-10 open category.
The national anthem “Indonesia Raya” reverberated in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, when Samantha Edithso, 10, stood at the top of the podium of the World Cadet Chess Championship on Friday, mid-November. On that Friday (16/11/2018), the six-grader made the international chess community look at Indonesia again.
Samantha won the world chess champion in the U-10 women’s category. After 29 years, the world chess title for any level has once again gone to an Indonesian player.
The title adds to the string of achievements of Samantha, who also became a world rapid chess champion this year, namely in Belarus on June 24. In April this year, Samantha came out on top in the rapid chess category of the Asian chess championship and won in the blitz category of the Asian Teen Chess Championship.
In the U-10 women’s category, Samantha can be considered the most complete chess player. She excelled not only in classic chess, which requires deep combinational skills and careful calculation, but also in rapid chess, where speed and risk-taking come into play.
“In the world of chess, Indonesia is known to have unique talents that stand out. Not many, maybe one or two in one era. In this era, Samantha is a unique talent that stands out, and she has begun to appear on the scene at a very young age,” said grand master Utut Adianto, who chairs the Indonesian Chess Association.
Utut’s statement refers to the rise of GM Smart Barus in the 1980s, GM Utut Adianto himself in the 1990s and GM Susanto Megaranto in the 2000s.
The year 2018 was a very productive one for Samantha. In addition to two world championships and two Asian titles, Samantha also won a silver medal in the U-12 category (higher class) at the East Asian Teen Chess Championship in Shanghai on Aug. 4.
Samantha also emerged as the youngest female chess player at the 2018 Chess Olympics in Batumi, Georgia. Despite her status as a reserve chess player, Samantha played eight times out of a total of 11 rounds. Samantha won six games and collected an additional 103.6 points for her rating.
Obtaining additional rating points in one event is extraordinary. This can only be achieved by low-rated chess players who can beat chess players with high ratings.
Shining since childhood
All of Samantha’s achievements began with her introduction to chess in the first grade of elementary school. So Siau Sian, Samantha’s mother, said Samantha felt bored with painting as an extracurricular activity at the beginning of the second semester and wanted to join chess. Her mother was confused, because Samantha was unable to play chess at that time, but she still gave permission.
“I think children can learn and adjust quickly. If she gets bored, she may ask for a change in extracurricular again. I never thought she would become a chess player,” said Samantha’s mother, whom friends call Cien-Cien.
When Samantha had just played chess three times, Cien-Cien was called by the late Antono Darma, the teacher of the chess class. According to Antono, Samantha was very talented at chess and was estimated to have an IQ of 130.
Antono was trusted with giving Samantha private lessons to improve her chess skills. After less than a year, Antono gave up and was unable to continue with the lessons, because Samantha’s level had risen so much.
Samantha began participating in various chess tournaments in the Bandung area to test her abilities. In 2014, she won in the 7-year age group (KU) at the Bandung city level and the West Java provincial level.
In 2015, at the age of seven, Samantha won the KU 9 in West Java and was runner-up in the KU 7 category at the National Championships. In the same year, Samantha underwent a psychological test where her IQ was assesses as 146, classified as a genius.
In 2016, Samantha’s father Larry Edith took the risk of testing his daughter in the KU 13 women’s category in the West Java Championship. Samantha won.
Samantha also joined the KU 17 women’s competition at the National Championship and came second. The surprising results made Percasi take a look at Samantha and send her to compete abroad.
At the 2017 Asian School Championship in Malaysia, Samantha joined the KU 17 women’s event and won the title in blitz chess, came second in classical chess and third in rapid chess. Samantha’s name became known when she performed well in the adult-age group at the Selangor Open Chess Tournament 2017.
Peter Long, head of the Malaysian Institute for Chess Excellence and an Asian chess observer, wrote he was impressed with Samantha since the tournament in Selangor. A very young and very small chess player competes in the adult category and shows good games.
“Samantha has unexpected moves. However, she still has to strengthen her chess basics and control her feelings, so as not to play too fast, because that would [make her] careless,” Peter Long said when he saw Samantha’s game at the Asian Teen Chess Championship in Chiang Mai.
In order for their daughter to learn chess more seriously and participate in various tournaments, Samantha’s parents moved her from regular school to homeschooling.
In her daily life, Samantha learned a lot of chess through the internet. His father looked for materials to study independently, because at this time Samantha did not have a permanent chess teacher.
Percasi Board of Trustees member Eka Putra Wirya and Percasi Achievement Development Division chairman Kristianus Liem helped develop Samantha’s skills by providing temporary trainers. GM Andrei Kovalev was one of the contracted trainers to train Samantha.
Eka also became Samantha’s main donor for her to participate in various international tournaments. Kristianus has always been Samantha\'s assistant abroad.
“We hope Samantha can become an Indonesian chess player who wins the grand master title, not just the women’s grand master,” Eka said.
That, in fact, has been Samantha’s dream since childhood. At the age of 7, Samantha wrote her goals on the wall of her room with a pencil.
“Tata Grandmaster Chess,” wrote Samantha, which was photographed by her mother.
PERCASI/KRISTIANUS LIEM
Samantha Edithso
Samantha Edithso
Born: Jakarta, Feb. 17, 2008
School: Grade I-III: SD Santa Ursula, Bandung;Grade IV-V: SD BPK Penabur International, Bandung
- Grade VI; Homeschooling Taman Sekar, Bandung
Achievements:
Winner in Asia Rapid Chess U-12 Women category (2018)
;Winner in Asia Rapid Chess U-10 Women category (2018)
;Winner in World Rapid Chess U-10 Women category (2018)
;Winner in World Classic Chess U-10 Women category (2018)
