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)