Hodgson leads BNI chess meet

Hodgson leads BNI chess meet

JAKARTA (JP): English grandmaster Julian M. Hodgson took the
sole lead after the third day of an 11-round chess tournament
sponsored by the government-run bank BNI at the Kartika Chandra
hotel yesterday.

Hodgson now has 2.5 points after beating Indonesia's Sjarif
Machmud on the 33rd move yesterday. Indonesia's number one chess
player GM Utut Adianto, FIDE Master Ruben Gunawan and GM Jrg
Hickl of Germany share second spot with 2 points each.

Utut, meticulously careful after his upset by Ruben on
Tuesday, defeated International Master Cerdas Barus after 54
moves in a five-hour struggle.

"It was the longest match of the day," remarked international
judge Harry F. Jauhari. "Utut very carefully fought it out."
Analysts generally believe that Utut lost to Ruben on the
previous day because he belittled his opponent.

GM Vladislav Tkachiev of Kazakhstan, who was shocked by
Indonesian grandmaster Ardiansyah on Tuesday, yesterday accepted
Ruben's offer of a draw on the 16th move, but only after long
consideration.

The other results yesterday: Ye Jiangchuan outwitted
Ardiansyah on the 42nd move, Ivan Jonathan Situru beat Hickl on
the 55th move. (arf)