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.