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)