Stefanova upsets Utut to take Makita chess lead

Stefanova upsets Utut to take Makita chess lead

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An outright mistake during the endgame cost GM Utut Adianto
against Bulgarian GM Antoaneta Stefanova here on Monday and he
relinquished his overall lead in the US$12,500 Makita-Lakoni
International Grand Master Chess Tournament.

Utut, the favorite at the tournament being held in Kelapa
Gading, North Jakarta, was in tough battle against the European
women's champion in the eighth round of the tourney, until he
made fatal error on the 55th move.

In a bid to build an attacking position, Utut gave away his
knight in the middlegame. He got three extra pawns in
compensation.

Nearing the end, Utut was about to promote his advancing a-
file pawn when his bishop, his only piece remaining in the
shield, was snapped up by a double attack from Stefanova's two
knights.

Stefanova, who played black, realized the pawn was unstoppable
but seemed to be given a lifeline as Utut errantly moved his
king, instead of protecting the bishop.

With two knights and a pawn against Utut's three pawns,
Stefanova's win was imminent and Utut threw in the towel on the
63rd move.

"I was lucky to win the game," Stefanova, who lost in their
first meeting, told The Jakarta Post after the match.

She said that she had been defending hard throughout and a
draw would have been a fair result.

"It should have been a draw, if he had not made the blunder
when he lost the bishop," she said.

Utut said nervousness made him lose concentration.

"At the last moment, I simply slipped up," he told the Post.

"I was very nervous, the pressure was enormous and I lost the
battle of endurance," he said, adding that even a young player
should be able to take advantage from the position he was in.

Stefanova now leads overall with 5.5 points, followed by
International Master (IM) Danny Juswanto of Indonesia with 5
points, while Utut is tied with Chinese GM Zhu Chen with 4.5
points.

Vietnamese GM Hoang Thanh Trang follows with 3 points, while
young Indonesian hopeful IM Susanto Megaranto is struggling at
the bottom with 1.5 points.

Danny moved his way up the standings, thanks to his win over a
disheartened Susanto, who seemingly lost his spirit.

"Susanto did not play well, as if he was not himself," said
Danny who forced Susanto to surrender on the 44th move.

According to Danny, Susanto used the English opening but the
latter employed a variation he was not accustomed to.

"He was wrong from the very beginning. I only sought to
improve my position. As it worked I eventually earned the win,"
he said.

Meanwhile Susanto, who entered the tournament with high hopes
of winning a GM classification, admitted that he made a major
mistake from the very beginning, which left him on the defensive
throughout the match.

"I lost hope very early, and he pressured me throughout," said
Susanto, who, instead of obtaining his GM norm, will definitely
see his rating drop by the end of the tournament.

Separately GM Zhu Chen was held to draw by Hoang. It was their
second draw after their first game which also ended in a
stalemate.