A crew member arranges trophies to be awarded at the Olympic Esports Week in Singapore on June 23. (Reuters/Edgar Su)
T
he only member of Indonesia’s delegation to the Olympic Esports Week (OEW) 2023, chess player Irene Kharisma Sukandar, competed in the Singapore event without any support from the government.
The international master (IM) lost to higher-rated players in the pool stage, where she found that every other participant held a grandmaster (GM) title, the highest title in the sport.
“Of course, the hope [to win the tournament] is there, but we athletes are objective […]. I know that even just to reach the semifinals is hard,” Irene told The Jakarta Post at the venue on Thursday.
In chess there is a numerical rating system effectuated by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and accepted worldwide, which categorizes professional chess players in certain groups, such as IM or GM.
Per June this year, Irene’s rating is 2,383, far below the GM threshold of 2,500.
The gap can be explained by the fact that Irene entered the OEW on a wild card invitation, as opposed to joining the open qualifier that started two months prior.
According to FIDE’s website, 42,000 players from 219 countries participated in the qualifier, through which the eight best ones qualified for the tournament. In addition to that, two players can enter on wild cards, one of which is reserved for the host nation, the other for a female player.