Utut loses to woman GM at MK Cafe Cup opener

Utut loses to woman GM at MK Cafe Cup opener

JAKARTA (JP): Grand Master (GM) Natalia Zukhova of Ukraine
dealt Indonesia's top chess player GM Utut Adianto an early blow
at the MK Cafe Cup in Koszalin, Poland, with an upset win Monday.

Playing white pieces, Zukhova methodically employed a Queen
Gambit opening and forced Utut to admit defeat after 48 moves
lasting four hours and 10 minutes.

"I don't know why I played so badly with Zukhova. I just lost
my concentration during the match," Utut said in a statement made
available to The Jakarta Post yesterday.

On paper, Utut should have won his opening match. The
Indonesian's elo rating of 2,615 is far higher than Zukhova's
2,460.

Utut had increased his rating by five points after finishing
second behind Milos Pavlovic of Yugoslavia at the Biel Masters in
Switzerland last week.

Other results on Monday were (first names played white): GM
Krasenkov beat International Master (IM) Socko, GM Kuczyncki lost
to GM Beljavski, GM Movsezian beat GM Miroslauska, GM Hracek beat
IM Jaraecz, GM Tukmakov drew with GM Gipslis and GM Izeta lost to
GM Khenklu.

Utut is making his first appearance in the tournament which
fields 92 players from 23 countries. Of the participants, 10 of
them hold the GM Super title while another 48 are GM titlists. GM
Super status is entitled to a chess player with an elo rating of
2,600 or more.

Zukhova is one of seven female grand masters competing in the
event.

The 10-round tournament will run through Aug. 13. (lnt)