Utut loses to Blatny in 7th round

Utut loses to Blatny in 7th round

JAKARTA (JP): Trailing in second place until the fifth round, Utut Adianto, Indonesia's number one Grand Master managed to finish only sixth in the New York Open Chess tournament which ended on Sunday.

Utut tied with nine other players with a total of 6.5 match points after playing nine games. Czech grand master Pavel Blatny won the tournament after collecting eight points.

The result increased Utut's elo rating of 2,585 by five points, but he has yet to achieve his dream of becoming the first Indonesian grand master to reach an elo rating of 2,600.

In the sixth round Utut outwitted German international master Christian Gabriel to take a provisional lead, but later lost his composure and fell to the eventual winner, Czech grand master Blatny, in the seventh round.

The Indonesian could have forced Blatny to a draw had he not made a blunder which cost him one of his rooks and, as it turned out, also the game.

In the eighth round, Utut was tied with grand master Rogelio Antonio of the Philippines. In the final round, he defeated Filipino international master Nelson Mariano, winner of last year's Asia junior championships and runner up at last year's world junior chess championships.

A total of 174 players, including 35 grand masters, 27 masters international, 23 FIDE masters and 89 non-title players took part in the tournament. (arf)