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.