Andrean ties with Nguyen in 3rd round

Andrean ties with Nguyen in 3rd round

JAKARTA (JP): Vietnamese junior chess player Nguyen Ngoc
Truong Son held his lead over Indonesian Andrean Susilodinata
after the two agreed to a draw on the 69th move on the third day
of the junior dual meet here on Tuesday.

Nguyen -- the 2001 Under-12 Asian champion and the 2000 Under-
10 World and ASEAN champion -- now has 1.5 Match Points (MPs) to
Andrean's 0.5 MPs.

The rapid chess session the two played last Saturday will be
taken into account if the two players are tied at the conclusion
of the dual meet on Thursday.

What impressed the chess fans who gathered at the Sari Pan
Pacific Hotel for the match was not the fact that Andrean, who
finished seventh in the Under-10 World Championships last year,
was able to earn a draw from the Asian champion, but that the
Vietnamese player offered the draw when Andrean only had 49
seconds left on his time clock.

Andrean would have lost when the time on his clock expired,
unless he was somehow able to pull out a win before his time ran
out.

Nguyen had 11 minutes on his time clock when he offered the
draw to Andrean.

Nguyen's decision amazed Andrean's instructor and Indonesian
Grand Master Utut Adianto.

"Nguyen proved his sportsmanship as a world champion. It seems
that he does not want to win because his opponent's time has
expired. If Nguyen insisted on continuing, Andrean would have
lost," he said after five-hour match.

He also told Andrean to ask for a draw whenever he found
himself short of time.

"You have played very well today. Next time you should ask him
for a draw if your time is short," he told Andrean.

Using the Sicilian defense, Andrean was able to match Nguyen,
who was playing the white pieces. Until the 32nd move, Andrean
found himself in a favorable position, with one more pawn than
Nguyen.

But on the 51st move, Andrean made an error by moving his king
e5-f4. Andrean's move frustrated the spectators, most of whom
were chess players.

"It seems that Andrean was certain he could reach the
promotion a few steps ahead of Nguyen. But the move thwarted his
hopes," said Sebastian Simanjuntak, a chess player and observer
who watched the game.

Nguyen was set for a promotion in d5 but in the 55th move, he
flanked his rook from d6 to a6, which opened some possibilities
for Andrean to win the match. Andrean responded by moving his
rook e2 to e5.

"Nguyen should have moved his rook from d6 to d7. But both
players had nearly reached the end of the match, so the moves
were no longer easy to understand," Utut remarked.

In the 58th move, Nguyen got a promotion for his queen, which
helped him secure his king from Andrean's attack. Nguyen's king
escaped seven checks, Andrean's two. (ivy)