Utut survives marathon scare against Neverov
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)