RI's Utut prepares for Donner Memorial
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)