Utut in narrow defeat at France chess c'ship<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Utut Adianto wasted a golden opportunity to
\nupset world number five and top seed Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine
\nat the Intercontinental Rapid Chess tournament in Cap d'Agde,
\nFrance, on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The game hung in the balance until Utut blundered on the 37th
\nmove, allowing Ivanchuk to bounce back and emerge the winner on
\nbetter possessions.<\/p>\n
\"I should have moved my castle to e8 rather than moving the
\nknight to f6. The mistake opened the e column for him to promote
\na pawn. I had to sacrifice my rook to avert such a dangerous
\npromotion,\" Utut said as quoted by Antara from France.<\/p>\n
Playing confidently with black, Utut defied Ivanchuk's
\ncomplicated strategy he developed from a Reti opening. The
\nIndonesian took over the initiative after 15 moves and appeared
\nto gain an upper hand after he forced the Ukrainian to defend
\nstrongly for most of the rest of the contest.<\/p>\n
\"I have to give him credit for applying a flawless defense
\nthat kept my pressure at bay,\" Utut said of his opponent, whose
\nelo rating is 2,730 compared to his 2,610.<\/p>\n
Utut remains winless after Sunday's Group B game. He was
\nforced to a draw by Waller Arenciba of Cuba in Saturday's opener.<\/p>\n
Home favorite Etienne Bacrot leads Group B with a perfect two
\npoints from two games after beating Arenciba in Sunday's other
\nmatch.<\/p>\n
Draws were in order in the contests between Thien Hai Dao of
\nVietnam and Ivan Morovic of Chile, and defending champion Boris
\nGelfand of Belarus and Esam Mohamed of Egypt.<\/p>\n
In Group A, official world champion Anatoly Karpov had to
\nsettle for a disappointing draw with unheralded Brazilian
\nGiovanni Vescovi.<\/p>\n
Karpov was not the only underachieving favorite of the
\nquadrennial event. World women's champion Judith Polgar crashed
\nto African representative Watu Kabesi of Sudan.<\/p>\n
A dejected Karpov remained confident about his chance to win
\nthe tournament despite the shaky start.<\/p>\n
\"This is my first match and there are more important matches.
\nI am at my best form to win the tournament,\" Karpov said.<\/p>\n
Sixteen players from five continents are playing in the
\nUS$48,000 tournament. They are divided into two round-robin
\ngroups, with the top four players from each qualifying for the
\nknockout second stage. (lnt)<\/p>",
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