Utut suffers first defeat in Biel Masters c'ships

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's leading Grand Master Utut Adianto suffered a defeat in the fifth round of the Biel Masters chess championships in Switzerland Friday at the hands of GM Zurab Sturua of Georgia.

Sturua, whose elo rating is 10 below Utut's 2,610, stopped the Indonesian chess wizard on the 31st move. The game lasted three hours and 55 seconds.

For Sturua, the victory was revenge for his loss to Utut in the same tournament last year.

Utut blamed his defeat on a blunder he made on the 24th move.

"Because of the blunder, Sturua took the advantage and controlled the game. I was just helpless against his attacks and I lost on the 31st move," Utut said.

This was Utut's first defeat at the championships. It came after three wins and a draw.

He had beaten International Master Neboisa Illijin of Rumania, IM Hans Jeurg Kaenel of Switzerland and IM Dejan Antic of Yugoslavia. The draw was with IM Alexander Mikhailevsky of Israel.

With the defeat, Utut slipped to third place with 3.5 Victory Points together with 11 other players; GM Lajos Portisch, GM Floria Gheorghiu, GM Gabor Kallai, IM Kaenel, IM Abhijit Kunte, IM Devaki Prasad, IM Mikhailevsky. IM Dejan Pikula, IM Alexander Cherniaev, IM Tomas Polak and Fide Master Niklaus Gietz.

GM Milos Pavlovic of Yugoslavia leads the rankings with 4.5 VP and Sturua is in second with 4 VP. Pavlovic beat Mikhailevsky on Friday.

Other results on Friday were Polak-Lederer 0-1, Portisch- Cherniaev 0.5-0.5, Tukmaikov-Giertz 0.5-0.5, Kallai-Pikula 0.5- 0.5, Prasad-Pikula 0.5-0.5.

Utut still has a chance to avenge his defeat in the remaining six rounds but will have to wait 24 hours as yesterday was a rest day.

Fifty-eight players from 15 countries are taking part in the Biel Masters which ends on July 31. Total prize money of 42,800 Swiss Francs (Rp 400 million) is on offer with the winner taking home 7,000 Swiss Francs. (lnt)