Utut dreams of top four at world chess
Utut dreams of top four at world chess
Musthofid
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Indonesia's No. 1 chess grand master Utut Adianto will be
heading to the world chess championship with high hopes for a
place in the semifinals.
"I have high confidence in this tournament. Hopefully, I can
reach semifinals," Utut told The Jakarta Post here.
The world chess championship will run from June 18 to July 13.
The majority of the matches will be played in Tripoli, Libya, and
a few will be in Valetta, Malta.
Utut has qualified for the tournament through the Asian
Championship in Dubai last year.
It will be the fourth edition of tournament Utut has qualified
since 1997. Although he could never go beyond the second round in
his previous appearances, Utut says he sees a striking way up
further this time around.
"For me, it's now or never. Surely, I still have the striking
weapon," he said.
Utut gave the Indonesian chess team only gold medal at the
recent Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in December but put in a
somewhat discouraging performance later by finishing only in
third place at the Makita Grand Master.
"After you watch someone lose, you may expect a backlash from
him," he said.
With a total of US$1,508,000 in cash prizes on offer, the
tournament has become the lucrative chess field. A first-round
loser will still pocket home a $6,000.
To boost his chance, Utut has hired a sparring-partner Tibor
Karolyi of Hungary to help him prepare for the tournament.
Karolyi, whose coaching record includes his past stint with
world's No. 5 Peter Leko, is expected to arrive on May 9.
"I know him well. We were together more than two years in
junior competition. I will need to build further on my chess
repertoire and Karolyi can help me find some ideas on the chess
board," Utut said.
Karolyi, a 43-year-old International Master (IM) title holder
will work with Utut for only two weeks during the Indonesian's
workout but extension is possible.
"Let's see whether I need to extend the partnership by
bringing him along with me to Libya," Utut said.
Utut will be among 128 of world's best chess players in the
championship, which uses a knockout format.
With him expected to sit on 83rd among the contenders, Utut,
currently ranked 135 in the world, will probably face Smbat
Lputian of Armenia, whose world's rank is 60th.