Grand master Utut draws with Seirawan

Grand master Utut draws with Seirawan

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's number one grand master Utut Adianto
accepted American grand master Yasser Seirawan's offer to draw at
the 25th move in their third-round duel here yesterday.

The draw, earlier than Wednesday's, which was agreed upon at
the 29th move, enabled the 1991 U.S. champion, who has an elo
rating of 2,605, to maintain a 2-1 lead. It cut to half, Utut's
targeted 10-point increase in his present elo rating.

This means that whether Utut wins or loses tomorrow, his
present elo rating, 2,590, will rise or drop by five. If he ties
again, it will remain the same.

"I was relieved to be able to neutralize his advantageous
position at the 25th. I immediately proposed a draw," Seirawan,
who turned Utut's first move of d4 into the Queen's Gambit
Tartakower opening, a variance of the Queen's Gambit, which
brought him victory on Tuesday.

But the proposal was only Seirawan's strategy to win the game.
The Damascus-born American told The Jakarta Post he hoped Utut,
who was under pressure to win after falling to him on Tuesday,
would emotionally reject his offer and ruin himself in his
further moves.

But that did not happen. After considering the offer for about
20 minutes, Utut, who won the Biel Open in Switzerland last
August, said "Yes".

"I accept his offer with remorse. I know the draw would not
benefit me. But had I turned down his offer, I would not have
been able to win the game, either. I was left with 19 minutes
within which I have to make 15 moves," said Utut.

From the beginning, it was Utut who had an advantageous
position. At 7th move, Seirawan, whom Utut has not beaten so far,
wasted time by moving his bishop to g4 only to retract it to e6
at the 8th move. Up to the 18th move, Utut was quite successful
in heavily encumbering Seirawan's moving possibility.

But Seirawan's 19th move of f6, which was outside Utut's
calculation, shattered Utut's plan to "easily wrap him up". The
small move, to Utut's dismay, proved to form a veritable bulwark
too strong to penetrate. (arf)