Khegai beats RI's Maria Lucia

JAKARTA (JP): FM Angela Khegai of Uzbekistan caused a big surprise when she defeated Indonesia's best chess player IM Maria Lucia in the fifth round of the Women's Grand Master tournament Saturday.

Khegai, one of the foreign players invited for the tournament, was not included in the seeded players but performed well.

In the first round Tuesday, Khegai beat Indonesian IM Lisa Karlina Lumongdong.

Maria surrendered to Angela in the 54th move of the Queen's Gambit opening in five hours.

"I lost tempo and forced myself too much. I should have refrained myself to a draw," Maria said.

Maria's loss has lessened her chances of scoring 9.0 Victory points of the 12 rounds for the grand master title. Maria scored 3.0 VP from five rounds.

Upi Damayanti relieved Indonesia's side by defeating teammate Imasniti in the 39th move of the Sicilian defense. Upi scored 2.5 VP.

Indonesian Darmayanti D. Tamin also received a bye.

Lisa suffered another defeat in the fifth round when she lost to IM Nguyen Thi Thuan Hoa of Vietnam in the 25th move of the Sicilian defense.

She also lost to GM Peng Zhaoqin of the Netherlands and GM Nana Andria Alexandria of Georgia.

Peng, of Chinese origin and now settling in the Netherlands, struggled hard before defeating Nana in the 52nd move of the Sicilian defense.

Peng's win moved her to second place with 3.5 VP. Alexandria still leads the tournament with 4.0 VP.

Other results:

GM Daniel Nutu-Gajic (Aus) bt Diah Saidah (Ina) 1-0, GM Zsuzsa Veroci (Hun) bt Sri Vidawati (Ina) 1-0.

Standings: Alexandria 4 VP, Zhaoqin 3.5 VP, Angela 3 VP, Angela, Daniela, Maria, Nguyen and Zsuzsa 3 VP, Upi 2.5 VP, Darmayanti 2 VP, Vidawati 1.5 VP, Imasniti 0.5 VP, Diah and Lisa 0.0 VP. (lnt)