Utut beats Ehlvest, Ruben forces Khalifman to draw

Utut beats Ehlvest, Ruben forces Khalifman to draw

By Ivy Susanti

SANUR, Bali (JP): It was a great day for Indonesia's top chess
player Grand Master (GM) Utut Adianto on Monday when he outshone
GM Jaan Ehlvest of Estonia in the 30th move in the third round of
the US$56,500 JAPFA Classic International Chess Tournament 2000
at Grand Bali Beach hotel.

But fellow countryman GM Ruben Gunawan failed to overcome the
1999 FIDE world champion Alexander Khalifman. Ruben, using the
Sicilian defense, offered a draw to Khalifman when they were in
the 52nd move.

As of Monday, the only woman chess player in the 16th category
tournament, GM Judit Polgar, had earned 2.5 points from three
rounds. Russian chess legend GM Anatoly Karpov, Khalifman and GM
Yasser Seirawan of the United States shared two points each, Utut
and GM Gilberto Milos Jr. of Brazil shared 1.5 points, GM Jan
Timman of the Netherlands, Ehlvest and Ruben recorded 1.0 point
and International Master (IM) Zaw Win Lay of Myanmar was in last
position with 0.5 point.

Utut, using the Grunfeld defense, held a better position than
Ehlvest in the earlier move. But in the 15th move, he made a
breakthrough by sacrificing his white pawn in h3 to Ehlvest's
black queen.

In the 18th move, Utut moved his bishop from f3 to g4. In the
next move, Utut threatened Ehlvest's queen in h3 so he quickly
secured it to h6.

In the final 30th move, Utut flanked his rook from h1 to h7 in
a bid to set up a check with one move or a checkmate in two
moves. Ehlvest gave up at this point.

Utut said after the match that Ehlvest failed to anticipate
his ploy in the 15th move.

"He did not expect my maneuver. It was a positional sacrifice.
He took the pawn but he should have taken the consequence. It
took me 30 minutes to think about this scheme. I just tried to
take the initiative to strengthen my central part," he said.

"He should have moved his knight from a4 to h5 in the 17th
move to block my bishop from occupying g4 on the board," he told
reporters.

He also said it was not a matter of luck that he won while
Ehlvest lost, but it all depended on players' form.

"In any critical moment, there is always a tendency to make a
mistake," he said, adding that Sunday's defeat to Polgar did not
douse his fighting spirit. "I was experimenting on Sunday. But it
failed."

Ruben refused to comment after the match, which took about
four hours. Many analysts said that Ruben could win over
Khalifman, but the 34-year-old Russian proved his ability and
refused to give in to Ruben, whose elo rating is the least among
the other nine competitors.

In another table on Monday, Polgar used the Queen Indian
defense to beat Timman in the 33rd move, Karpov tied with Milos
in the 49th move by using the Catalan opening and Zaw lost to
Seirawan in the 56th move with the Caro Kann defense.

Utut will play Timman on Tuesday. Ruben will face Ehlvest and
Khalifman is to challenge Seirawan. Polgar will challenge Karpov
and Milos will fight Zaw.