Utut moves to third place in MK Cafe Cup

Utut moves to third place in MK Cafe Cup

JAKARTA (JP): Grand Master (GM) Utut Adianto of Indonesia
jumped to third place in the provisional standings at the MK Cafe
Cup chess tournament in Koszalin, Poland, following two straight
victories over the weekend.

Utut rekindled his title hopes by collecting 5 points with
three games remaining. The Indonesian, who shares third place
with Zbynek Hracek, Igor Novikov and Kengis, all of whom are
grand masters, now trails leader GM Igor Khenkin of Israel by
just one point.

Khenkin wasted a chance to widen his lead after drawing with
GM Edvins Kengis in Sunday's seventh round. Right behind him with
5.5 points was GM Sarunas Sulskis of Lithuania who defeated
another Israeli, GM Emil Sutovsky, on Sunday.

Utut stopped local female grand master Monika Miroslawska
after 32 moves in a match lasting three hours and 25 minutes on
Saturday. Twenty hours later he nailed another success, but only
after his opponent, GM Frisco Nijboer of the Netherlands, failed
to survive a time crisis in the 64th move.

Utut said he was lucky to beat Nijboer. The Indonesian had
never lost to a Dutch opponent before Sunday's tense game.

In the first 15 moves, both chess wizards opted for a careful
game played on a Caro-Kann opening.

"In the 16th, Nijboer made a simple but effective move. I
tried to neutralize him by using my queen-side pieces, but the
strategy turned out to be unsuccessful," Utut said.

From that point on, Utut felt the pressure of Nijboer's pawn
advantage.

However, the game went wrong for the Dutchman after he proved
unable to maintain his composure under the strict times rules
which apply in the tournament. Each player given just 10 seconds
to make a move.

"The Caro-Kann I chose paid off," Utut said after the match.
(lnt)