Ruben draws with Polgar, Utut falls to to Khalifman

by Ivy Susanti

SANUR, Bali (JP): Indonesian Grand Master (GM) Ruben Gunawan forced women's top player GM Judit Polgar of Hungary to draw in the 46th move of the seventh round of the JAPFA Classic International Tournament 2000 here on Saturday.

Unfortunately, countryman GM Utut Adianto failed to overcome GM Alexander Khalifman of Russia and bowed out in the 38th move in the 16th category tournament held at Grand Bali Beach Hotel.

With this result, Utut's struggle to maintain his elo rating of 2584 becomes tough. He had to draw in two more games against Ruben and GM Yasser Seirawan of the United States to earn 4 Match Point (MP). He now has 3 MP.

At another table, GM Gilberto Milos Jr. of Brazil, who played it safe during the tournament, drew with Seirawan in the 25th move with the Queen Indian defense.

Two matches were still being played as of press time. Russian chess legend GM Anatoly Karpov was still playing GM Jaan Ehlvest of Estonia, while at another table, GM Jan Timman of the Netherlands was facing International Master (IM) Zaw Win Lay of Myanmar.

Should Karpov win the match, he would equal Polgar in the general standing.

After seven rounds, Polgar is still in first place with 5 MP. Following in second position are Khalifman and GM Gilberto Milos Jr. of Brazil, who both 4.5 MP. They are now awaiting the chance to increase their position. Ruben has so far collected 2 MP.

Utut said after the match that with the Caro Kann defense, he could not cope with the pressure from Khalifman. The 1999 FIDE world champion did not give him a chance to take a breath and made him lose his astuteness.

"Khalifman's position was better than mine all through the game. I should have been able to win. My black knight should have seized his pawn in g4 but instead I move my knight to d7," he said.

He said that Khalifman tried to put more pressure on him. "Khalifman's moves were very accurate," he said.

With the Sicilia defense, Ruben also insisted he should have been able to beat Polgar, but he miscalculated in the 35th move.

"My white pawn in g6 should have captured hers in f7. But I was nervous because time was almost up. I only had 15 seconds to plan five moves, and I saw that Judit also suffered from the time constraint," he said.

Three moves later, Polgar's rook threatened Ruben's in e5, and Ruben saw he could not escape. Both agreed to draw.

Being a dark horse in this event, Milos, who ranked 60th in the world, said that he would make an effort to beat Ehlvest and Polgar to win the tournament. He is in the top three.

"I'll try to win this tournament. I don't care whether I'm the favorite or not," he said.

On Sunday, Milos will challenge Ehlvest; Polgar is to face Seirawan; Utut will meet Ruben; Timman will lay Khalifman; and Karpov will contend Zaw.