Local chess hero faces Karpov in quarters

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's Utut Adianto will square off in a rematch against official world champion Anatoly Karpov of Russia in the quarterfinals of the US$48,000 Intercontinental Rapid Chess tournament at Cap d'Agde, France, on Wednesday.

They last met at the Clash of the Titans here in November last year, with Karpov winning a one-sided duel.

Other knockout quarterfinal matches will pit Ian Rogers of Australia against Etienne Bacrot of France, Moroccan Hichem Hamdouchi against defending champion Boris Gelfand of Belarus and Iossif Dorfman of France against top seed Vasilly Ivanchuk of Ukraine.

Each pair will play two games in the quarterfinals. "Blitz chess" will decide a match which ends in a draw. A player is given five minutes to move pieces in the tiebreak.

Karpov reached the quarterfinals as the Group A leader after collecting 5 points from seven games. Rogers and Hamdouchi both collected 4.5 points, but the Australian was awarded the second place for more wins. Dorfman was half a point behind.

Utut finished fourth in Group B with 4 points after three wins, two losses and two draws.

Ivanchuk topped the group with 5.5 points. Gelfand scored the same number of points but had fewer wins. Bacrot had 4.5 points.

Utut scored an important victory over fellow Asian representative Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam after 31 moves in their group penultimate game on Tuesday.

The Indonesian played white, but appeared tense knowing that only a win would keep his hopes alive of earning a quarterfinal spot. (lnt)