Utut suffers first defeat in Biel Masters c'ships

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)