Ruben draws with Polgar, Utut falls to to Khalifman
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.