Nigel Short takes his time to defeat Utut Adianto
Nigel Short takes his time to defeat Utut Adianto
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's number one chess player, Grand
Master Utut Adianto, yesterday ran short of ideas against Briton
Nigel Short when their first of the scheduled six-round games
came to the 58th move.
Throughout the match, which lasted about six and a half hours,
the world number 14, Short, gained the upper hand with his
favorite e4 first move, which developed into the Caro-Kann
advanced variant defense.
He ruthlessly gave Utut, ranked 50 in the world, no
opportunity to catch a breath. Utut was on the receiving end of
the game from beginning to end.
"His moves were very accurate, with danger lurking
underneath," Utut said after the match.
The London-born grandmaster said the match reminded him of his
match against Anatoly Karpov "with one exception."
"There is an unprecedented move by Utut (which did not occur
in Short's match against Karpov) so that at some point during the
match I was anxious to see whether Utut would be able to escape
the trap," Short said. Short did not say which move he meant.
Short beat Karpov in the world chess championship qualifying
round in 1993 to take on Jan Timman in the final. But then the
Briton started a breakaway chess organization with title holder
Garry Kasparov of Russia. The chess wizards set up the
Professional Chess Association and staged the first championship
between them.
Short assured himself of a 1-0 lead when he put his queen to
add force to his raids to Utut's rook and bishop at the cost of
two pawns.
"The moment I moved my queen I knew the game was mine," Short
said.
International judge Djamil Djamal, who administered the match,
told The Jakarta Post that at the start, when the match was still
in balance, it seemed as if the match would end in a draw.
"I thought Utut had a chance to escape from Short's vicious
attacks because he had a free pawn on the queen side. Utut could
have used it at the end of the game," he said.
But the 30-year-old Indonesian was unable to divert the match
to his queen side. Short's attacks were constantly directed on
Utut's king side. And Utut had no other choice but to follow the
path and meet his Waterloo. (arf)