Adianto to challenge Smyslov in six-round duel

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's number one chess player Utut Adianto will challenge former world champion Vassili Smyslov in a five- day, six-round duel at the Kelapa Gading Sports Club, North Jakarta.

The match between the Indonesian grand master and the 1957- 1958 world champion is scheduled to start on Nov. 21 at 14.30 in the Janur room of the club.

Smyslov, a co-founder of the prestigious Soviet School of Chess, will arrive here on Nov. 19 together with Alexander Bach, said Eka Putra Wirya, the owner of the Enerpac chess school which arranged the meet, yesterday.

Bach acted as the manager for world number one Russian Anatoly Karpov during last year's world chess duel against Dutchman Jan Timman.

Eka said that during the five-day match an exhibition tournament will be held on Nov.23. On that day the two grand masters will play "rapid" chess in a brief 25 minutes.

"Utut needs a 3-1 victory to increase his elo rating by 10 to 2,600 and boost his world ranking from 72 to 60," said Eka, explaining the reason behind his school's arrangement of the FIDE sanctioned competition.

The winner will get a US$3,000 cash prize and the loser $2,000, Eka added.

As of July, FIDE rated 29-year-old Utut at 2520, but he has raised his elo rating to 2,590 after recently taking part in various tournaments in Europe and the U.S.

Utut, who will come back on Monday from a 13-day stint with Russian grand master Joseff Dorman in Paris, recorded his most recent best performance when he became the champion of the Biel Masters in Switzerland last August.

As for the Russian, 73-year-old veteran Smyslov, with an elo rating of 2510, recorded his most recent best performance when he beat Yasser Seirawan of the U.S. in the first round of the prestigious tournament in Tilburg, the Netherlands, last month.

Cholid Gozali, the vice chairman of the Indonesian Chess Association (PB Percasi) told reporters yesterday Smyslov's visit should also be seen as preparing Utut for the Moscow Chess Olympics slated for Nov. 30 to Dec. 17.

Cholid said he would be very happy if Utut and the best five -- Eddy Handoko, Nasib Ginting, Ivan Jonathan Situru, Salor Sitanggang and Cerdas Barus -- finished 20th in the upcoming Moscow Olympics. Percasi selected the best five during the national chess championships on July 4-18 in Yogyakarta. (arf)