Utut returns to Biel with modest goals

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former champion Utut Adianto will return to the Biel Master chess tournament with a modest target of finishing in the top ten.

Although the Biel Master is one of the few tournaments where the Indonesian hopes to relive past glories, Utut said it would be good if he could reach the top ten considering his lack of practice recently.

"To finish in the top ten would be a good run for me," the Indonesian's number one grandmaster said when The Jakarta Post asked about his realistic aspiration this time around.

The tournament will use both rapid and conventional chess games, in between, Utut is scheduled to play a simultaneous match against a line-up of local chess veterans.

The rapid games will run for two days from July 20 to July 21 followed by the conventional games until Aug. 2.

Utut managed to win the tournament, then a 15-tier event, in 1995. The following editions saw him finish not lower than the top three until 1998.

He said he skipped the tournament the following years when the organizers lowered the prize money.

"On calculation, I would have pocketed very little money," he said.

Utut instead turned elsewhere.

His return to Biel signaled about his change in responding to chess invitations. "Even if it (the fee) were only enough to buy cigarettes, I would have jumped at the invitation," he said.

Utut, now 37 years old, once reached a career high elo-rating of 2620, but rare appearances and a string of poor performances have seen that drop to 2572. His most recent poor showing was in India in April, where he lost several points at the end of the tournament.

Utut put his lackluster performance down to a lack of time due to his work with the national chess federation (Percasi) as chief in charge of junior scouting.

"I wish I had not been installed as a board member, because now I have a lot of time commitments," he said, adding that he planned to retire from the federation in 2003 to focus on his play.

"I want to try to continue playing until 2005," he said.