Makita chess tournament heats up at halfway mark

Makita chess tournament heats up at halfway mark

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The race for the championship at the Makita-Lakoni chess
tournament has heated up with GM Zhu Chen's loss to IM Danny
Juswanto in the fifth round here on Friday.

Danny bounced back from his defeat a day earlier to stop Zhu,
the women's world champion from China, at the Graha Kita Karya
building in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta.

With Indonesian GM Utut Adianto also winning his game and GM
Antoaneta Stefanova drawing, four players are now tied at the top
of the standings on three points at the halfway mark of the 10-
round, six-player strong competition.

Danny appeared to be well prepared for his game against Zhu,
who led the tournament entering Friday's match, forcing his
opponent to concede after 35 moves in a Sicilian game.

"Danny built a better position and took charge of the game
almost from the start. He held the attacking initiative, leaving
Zhu on the other side struggling under pressure," Kristianus
Liem, a chess columnist, said.

"Zhu herself was almost error-free. She just trailed in the
early fight for the attacking initiative," said Kristianus, who
admitted to helping Danny by giving him notes on Zhu's past
games.

"There were hundreds of games," Kristianus said, adding that
he began compiling the collection in November when the players
for the Makita tournament were confirmed.

Utut and Susanto were involved in a sharp variation of the
Sicilian opening in their all-Indonesian game. Utut, 39, took
control of the game against his 16-year-old prodigy when he
pushed ahead in the final phase, forcing Susanto to commit a
fatal error.

"Utut's maneuver of a rook took its toll as Susanto lost his
queen," Kristianus said. The game lasted 35 moves.

Utut has touted Susanto as his likely successor at the top of
the Indonesian chess world.

However, Utut's win certainly derailed Susanto's campaign for
a GM title, which requires a player to collect at least three GM
norms in three different international tournaments.

Susanto collected one GM norm in December and entered this
tournament with high hopes of gaining another, which is now
almost impossible with this defeat.

To win a GM norm in this tournament, a player must collect
seven points. Susanto has just 1.5 points with five rounds left.

Meanwhile Danny's chance of winning a GM norm is still open.
However, according to Kristianus, it will be a mounting task for
Danny to accomplish.

"He will have to take another four points. That will be
difficult, but it is not an impossible task," Kristianus said.

In the other game, Stefanova had the chance to take over the
sole lead of the event, but the 19-year-old from Bulgaria had to
settle for a draw with IM Hoang Thanh Trang of Vietnam after 45
moves of a Slav game.

It was Hoang's third draw, tying her with Susanto at 1.5
points.

In the sixth round on Saturday, Hoang will be given the chance
to avenge her earlier defeat to Susanto in their first meeting.

Utut will face Danny, while Stefanova and Zhu will play each
other. In the earlier meeting between these players, both games
ended in draws.