Utut steps up charge at BNI chess meet

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's number one chess player, grandmaster (GM) Utut Adianto, stepped up his challenge for victory in the BNI international chess tournament here when he beat compatriot Sjarif Machmud on the 37th move yesterday.

The win took Utut into second place on the leaderboard, shoulder to shoulder with GM Julian Hodgson of Britain. Both are just half a point behind GM Jrg Hickl of Germany who maintained his lead with 7.5 points after drawing with Cerdas Barus on the 27th move on a Reti defense.

But Utut faces an uphill task in the last game -- against top seed Hodgson -- today. Utut can only clinch his first title of the year if he beats Hodgson and Hickl flops in his final match against Chinese grandmaster Ye Jiangchuan.

Utut took full advantage of both playing with the white pieces and his familiarity with the King's Indian defense that Sjarif used yesterday.

"Sjarif is completely outclassed by Utut in terms of skill, elo rating and experience. But at least he managed to hold Utut to 37 moves before giving up the game," international arbiter Harry S. Jauhari said.

Harry quickly added that Sjarif's position as the tournament director, which keeps him busy all day, might also explain his disappointing performance.

A tie-break calculation will be made to decide the winner if two players top the final standings today. The calculation takes into account only the victory points scored against higher-ranked opponents.

The other results yesterday were (Indonesian unless otherwise stated, those mentioned first playing white): GM Vladislav Tkachiev of Kazakhstan drew with GM Ye of China on the 27th move on a King's Indian defense, Hodgson drew with GM Edhi Handoko after 34 moves on a Pirc defense, GM Ardiansyah drew with Ivan Jonathan Situru on the 9th move on a Queen's Pawn defense and International Master Ruben Gunawan drew with Danny Yuswanto after 18 moves on a Ruy Lopez defense. (arf)