Draw closes chess duel between Utut and Short

Draw closes chess duel between Utut and Short

JAKARTA (JP): A draw at the 36th move yesterday closed the six-round chess duel at Hotel Indonesia between Indonesia number one Utut Adianto and British number one Nigel Short.

The draw, resulted from a see-saw game characterized by a battery of exchanges, put the end score at 4.5-1.5 for world number 14 Short.

This result increased Short's elo rating of 2,665 by 10 but reduced Utut's rating of 2,610 by 10.

Utut had two advantages. First, he played white. Second, he started the game with his favorite fiery opening, Queen Gambit, with the fianchetto variant. Yet he was unable to do much.

Chess analyst Mukmin Panggabean said that the game went positional with Short playing it safe since he was playing black. Mukmin saw Short's tendency to end the game with a draw despite Utut's efforts to exhaustively explore any possibilities to gain an edge over Short.

Short said, "I am extremely satisfied with the result. It was not my best play, though. But I think I have played quite well."

On Utut, Short said: "I think he does not have enough match experience. Probably it would be beneficial for him to work with players whose levels are much higher. It would help him prepare better for duel matches like these."

Another weakness, Short said, was that Utut had a tendency to underestimate his opponent and feel overconfident. "When I made a two-pawn sacrifice in our second-round match, he didn't take it seriously. It was four moves later that he started to realize how dangerous the sacrifice was. But it was too late."

Short praised Utut's good feeling for the harmony of the pieces. "This is important. I have seen many chess players who do not develop a good feeling for how they should be going with the pieces."

Eka Putra Wirya, Utut's patron, said that despite Utut's loss, he was satisfied with the result. "It was Utut's second duel. For Short, it was his 41th duel."

"Moreover, if we take into account that Short beat Russian- born American champion Lev Alburt 7-1 in their 1985 duel, Utut's 1.5-4.5 loss looked better," Eka added.

Utut is looking forward to meet Short again at the 1995-1997 interzonal chess tournament in Yerevan, Armenia, scheduled from April 27 to May 12. (arf)