Utut settles for a draw with Pavlovic

JAKARTA (JP): Grand Master (GM) Milos Pavlovic of Yugoslavia hung on against Indonesian GM Utut Adianto in the Biel Masters chess tournament in Switzerland, forcing the Indonesian to settle for a draw Tuesday.

Utut, playing the white pieces, mounted a dogged attack throughout the game, which pitted the tournament's two top players against each other, only to meet a stubborn defense from Pavlovic.

An early blunder by Pavlovic gave Utut a slender upper hand, but the Indonesian fell short of patience to convert it into a victory.

Both players agreed to a draw after 39 moves lasting almost four hours produced a stalemate.

The draw was enough for Pavlovic, whose elo rating of 2,505 is far below Utut's 2,610, to maintain the sole lead with 6.5 points.

Utut trails by half a point, as does GM Zurab Sturua of Georgia who defeated GM Vadim Milov in another game Tuesday.

Other results Tuesday: GM Vladimir Tukmakov-GM Gabor Kallai 1- 0, GM Barbero-GM Lajos Portisch 0-1, IM Tomas Polak-GM Heedt 1-0, IM Abhijit Kunte-IM Alexander Cherniaev 0.5-0.5, IM Devaki Prasad-IM Dejan Antic 0.5-0.5, GM Nemet-Mikhailevsky 0-1, FIDE Master Niklaus Grietz-GM Florin Gheorghiu 0.5-0.5. (lnt)