Blunder leads Utut to second defeat

JAKARTA (JP): A blunder cost Indonesia's Utut Adianto a golden chance to climb to the top place in the Biel Master Invitation chess tournament in Switzerland on Thursday.

Playing black pieces against British grand master Julian Hodgson, an over confident Utut forced an attacking game with his Caro-Kann defense only to crash his second defeat after 42 moves in the 11th round game.

The aggressive stance went wrong when Utut risked scarifying his two attacking pawns in the 17th move. The Indonesian had earlier offered a major exchange for his other two pawns, but Hodgson refused.

Hodgson managed to capitalized on Utut's shaky defense following the forceful sacrifice. Mounting pressure wore out Utut's stubborn defense and the Indonesian had no choice but to resign.

The loss, the second for 30-year-old Utut in the US$40,000 tournament, kept the Indonesian in the second place equal with Latvian world number seven Alexei Shirov and Belarusian world number eight Boris Gelfand. They all have collected 6.5 points.

Russian Alexei Dreev managed only another draw against spirited home favorite L. Brunner, but maintained the leadership with 7.5 points.

"I'm so sorry to all my fans. I should have not done such a foolish thing. But it will not frustrate me," Utut said in a fax sent by compatriot Sebastian Simanjuntak to the Indonesian media.

"Lady Luck refused to smile on him. He needs to keep his cool in the next two matches," Utut's manager Eka Putra Wirya said.

Utut has set up a possible hard-fought battle against Shirov in the penultimate round of the 14-field tournament. Shirov accepted a draw with Argentinean Daniel Campora in a short game lasting just 12 moves on Thursday.

The Indonesian must win his two last matches to clinch the annual tournament. (amd)

Results Brunner 0.5 Dreev 0.5 Shirov 0.5 Campora 0.5 Milov 0.5 Gavrikov 0.5 De Firmian 0.5 Zvjaginsev 0.5 Tkachiev 0.5 Gelfand 0.5 Kindermann 1 Timman 0 Hodgson 1 Utut 0