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)