Utut survives marathon scare against Neverov

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's Utut Adianto displayed a cool defense to force a draw with Valery Neverov of Ukraine in the fifth round of the MK Cafe Cup chess tournament Friday.

The game was stretched over 80 moves lasting a tournament record of six hours and 15 minutes, and it was Utut who sighed with relief when the draw was agreed.

Playing black, Utut, who picked an Indian Bogo defense, fell behind the clock after the first 40 moves. Neverov maintained the pressures from that point, using a lethal combination of a rook and a bishop to threaten Utut's king.

Despite his clear upper hand, Neverov failed to checkmate Utut's king within the second 40 moves and, according to the sport's rules, an automatic draw was inevitable.

"I am relieved to survive that nerve wrecking match. I thought I would lose when I ran out of time to finish the first 40 moves," said Utut.

Chess analyst Kristianus Liem said Utut was taking on strong opposition, particularly from Eastern European players, in the 10-round tournament.

"Many of the Eastern European players have lower elo ratings than Utut's 2,610. Not because of their performances, they just lack tournaments and thus opportunities to improve their ratings due to financial shortcomings."

The draw put Utut in a four-way tie for 14th place in the provisional standings with 3.5 points with Zbynek Hracek, Petr Haba, both from Czech Republic, and Alexander Beljavsky of Ukraine.

Israel's Igor Khankin stays on top, although he failed to maintain his 100 percent record after drawing with Friso Nijboer of the Netherlands. Khankin remains the sole leader on 4.5.

Other results on Friday included (first names played white): Michael Krasenkow -- Volzhin 1/2-1/2; Markowski -- GM Beljavski 1-0; Sutovskij -- Brodsky 1/2-1/2; Kharitonov -- IM Kunte 1/2- 1/2; Berelovich -- GM Kveinys 1/2-1/2; Koc -- Novikov 1/2-1/2; Ehlvzst -- Glejzerov 1/2-1/2; Gdanski -- Movsesian 0-1; Hracek -- Haba 1/2-1/2. (amd)