Utut still on track for chess title
Utut still on track for chess title
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's Utut Adianto stole the Europeans
thunder in the Biel Master Invitation chess tournament in
Switzerland after outwitting home favorite L. Brunner in a 10th
round game on Wednesday evening.
Utut did everything right with his advantageous white pieces
to demolish Brunner's Indian Nimzo defense after 41 moves of the
short game shown live by German station TV DRS.
The victory, Utut's fourth win in the US$40,000 invitational
tournament, earned the 30-year-old Indonesian 6.5 points to
reduce his gap with provisional leader Alexei Dreev of Russia by
just half a point. With three games remaining, Utut is entrenched
in the title race.
Dreev remains on top of the standings despite his lackluster
draw with Germany's Stefan Kindermann after 28 moves of play.
Latvian world number seven Alexei Shirov shared the third
place with world number eight Boris Gelfand of Belarus with six
points each.
Unbeaten Utut took the initiative from the start against the
struggling Swiss, shrugging off Brunner's stubborn defense which
apparently was aimed at forcing Utut to accept an equal ending.
"Chess pundits could not hide their astonishment at Utut's
attacking game. Nobody knew of any Asian players but Visvanathan
Anand before," Utut's manager Eka Putra Wirya said.
The victory also assured Utut an additional five points to his
elo rating of 2,590. With a five-point reserve he gained after
his victory in the Interzona tournament in Malaysia early last
month, Utut is now among the elite grandmasters with elo ratings
of 2,600.
"I'm very pleased to fulfill what I have dreamt of," Utut said
after the match. He added that he now wants to finish among the
top three in the 14-player tournament.
Utut was unseeded but managed to scalp both Jan Timman of
Holland, a former world championship finalist, and Gelfand.(amd)
Results
1. A. Dreev - Kindermann 0.5 - 0.5
2. Timman - T. Kavhiev 0.5 - 0.5
3. Gelfand - de Firmian 0.5 - 0.5
4. Zvjaginsev - Milov 1 - 0
5. Gavrikov - Shirov 0.5 - 0.5
6. Campora - Hodgson 0.5 - 0.5
7. Utut - Brunner 1 - 0