RI's Utut prepares for Donner Memorial
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's leading chess wizard Utut Adianto yesterday promised a formidable showing in the Donner Memorial competition in Amsterdam in mid August, but remain down to earth about his victory chances.
"I won't disappoint my fans, but to be realistic, it will be great if I finish in the middle of the table," Utut told Antara during the Asia-Pacific inter-city championship in Dubai, currently underway until Thursday.
"There will be many chess heavyweights taking part in the tournament," Utut said of the invitational meet featuring 12 players in round robin matches from Aug. 17 to Aug. 20.
It will be Utut's highest level of competition ever, where he will take on the likes of American Gata Kamsky and Russian stars Vassily Ivanchuk, Valery Salov and Ivan Sokolov, all big names with elo ratings of over 2,660.
The Indonesian will enter the invitational meet as a clear underdog, because of his modest elo rating of only 2,615.
Kamsky is presently playing World Chess Federation title holder Anatoly Karpov of Russia in Elista, Russia. Karpov leads his challenger 6 1/2 - 3 1/2 and needs just four more points to retain his world crown.
Strong opposition in Amsterdam will also come from home favorites Jan Timman, a former world championship contender, and Jeroen Piket.
Utut's manager Eka Putra Wirya has planned to hire a foreign coach to help his player prepare for the Dutch outing.
In Dubai, twice defending champion Jakarta, and Bandung, are representing Indonesia in the inter-city championship. After the seventh round yesterday, an Utut-led Bandung squad lay fifth out of 12 teams with 17 victory points, half a point ahead of Jakarta.
Tashkent of Uzbekistan top the provisional standings with 21 points, followed by Ashkabad of Turkmenistan on 19.5 and Samarkand of Uzbekistan with 19. Ho Chi Minh is fourth on 18 points.
"It will be very tough to bring the championship trophy back to Indonesia," Utut said.
Utut led Jakarta to triumphs in the biennial tournament in 1992 and 1994. (amd)