Edhi loses in marathon chess game

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian grandmaster Edhi Handoko struggled all the way yesterday in a draining game that lasted 70 moves before succumbing to his German counterpart Jrg Hickl on the fifth day of a chess tournament sponsored by the government-run bank BNI.

Hickl, employing the Pirc defense, succeeded in isolating Edhi's free pawn on the c column with his bishop on the 60th move. This forced Edhi's king out of his strategically-laid fortress, which paved the way for Hickl's king to back up his free pawn on the d column.

Britain's grandmaster Julian Hodgson enjoyed the shortest game of the day when he forced Indonesian grandmaster Ardiansyah to resign after just 17 moves. "Ardiansyah seemed to be in haste and blundered on the 14th move," international judge Mukmin Panggabean said.

Yesterday's other results were: Indonesia's number one chess player GM Utut Adianto regained his best form to beat compatriot Ivan Jonathan Situru after 27 moves, GM Vladislav Tkachiev of Kazakhstan outwitted Indonesia's Danny Yuswanto on the 43rd move. GM Ye Chiang Chuan of China drew with another Indonesian, Cerdas Barus on the 53rd move while Ruben Gunawan beat Sjarif Machmud on the 38th move in another all-Indonesia affair.

Yesterday's victory kept Hodgson on top of the standings table with four points, followed by Hickl and Ruben Gunawan with 3.5 points each. Utut and Tkachiev have 3 points each in third place while Danny and Ye have 2.5. Edhi and Ardiansyah stayed on 2. (arf)