Karpov, Khalifman win their matches in JAPFA opener

Karpov, Khalifman win their matches in JAPFA opener

By Ivy Susanti

SANUR, Bali (JP): Former world champion Grand Master (GM)
Anatoly Karpov and successor GM Alexander Khalifman, both of
Russia, won their matches in the opening of the US$56,500 JAPFA
Classic International Tournament 2000 here on Saturday.

Karpov, the FIDE world champion from 1975 to 1985 and from
1993 to 1999 before Khalifman took over, outclassed host player
GM Ruben Gunawan in the 47th step in four hours 23 minutes in the
English opening.

On the contrary, Khalifman speeded up to beat International
Master (IM) Zaw Win Lay of Myanmar in the 21st step using the
French opening in only one hour and 33 minutes.

Indonesia's top player GM Utut Adianto, who used the Queen
Indian opening, was able to slightly outshine GM Gilberto Milos
Jr. of Brazil in the 23th step. But Milos did not give up easily
and managed to force Utut to draw in the 37th step.

At another table, GM Judit Polgar of Hungary, who is the only
women's player in the 16th category tournament, struck in the
24th step to tie with GM Jaan Ehlvest of Estonia by using the
Modern opening.

Dutch GM Jan Timman, who used Caro Kann opening, also had to
tie with GM Yasser Seirawan of the United States in the 43th
step.

With the lowest elo rating of 2510, Ruben refused to bow out
to Karpov until the 30th step. His downfall started when he moved
his black pawn to g4, and in the 43th step, suddenly Karpov sent
his white bishop to seize Ruben's pawn.

Ruben tried to resist but he surrendered at last in the 47th
step. The 32-year-old player needed two hours and six minutes to
consider his movement while Karpov, 48, needed two hours and 17
minutes.

Khalifman had threatened Zaw's white king in g6 in the 17th
step, and in the next move, Zaw tried to make a little innovation
by moving his rook from a to d1 instead of his pawn to c3.

In the final 21st step, Zaw's king seized Khalifman's pawn in
h6 but Zaw had no where to go. Khalifman amazingly took only 23
minutes to think his scheme while Zaw needed one hour and 10
minutes.

The second round on Sunday will feature Ehlvest against
Khalifman, Ruben against Zaw, Seirawan against Karpov, Milos
against Timman and Polgar against Utut.

In the opening ceremony earlier, Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri said she was pleased to be able to meet Karpov in
the tournament.

"I'm proud that I can meet with the Grand Master. So far, I
have only heard and read about Karpov, but now I can meet him in
person here. I also appreciate the presence of other players,"
she said.

Megawati also hoped that chess could be played at the grass
roots level as well as at the elite level.

"To achieve this, I have suggested the Indonesian Chess
Federation (Percasi) to set up a special chess school or include
the sport in school's curriculum," she said.