Utut ties with Timman as Polgar tops standings

By Ivy Susanti

SANUR, Bali (JP): Indonesia's top chess player Grand Master (GM) Utut Adianto forced GM Jan Timman of the Netherlands to tie in the 28th move in a do-or-die duel at the JAPFA Classic International Tournament 2000 on Tuesday.

Another host player, GM Ruben Gunawan, surrendered to GM Jaan Ehlvest of Estonia in the 37th move using the Queen Indian defense in the US$56,500 tournament held at the Grand Bali Beach hotel here. Ehlvest lost to Utut on Monday.

Also on Tuesday, GM Judit Polgar of Hungary, who is the only top female player in this event, forced Russian chess legend GM Anatoly Karpov to tie in the 40th move with a Caro Kann defense. The 1999 FIDE world champion GM Alexander Khalifman of Russia also tied with GM Yasser Seirawan of the United States in the 21th move, using the Slavia defense. GM Gilberto Milos Jr. of Brazil outclassed International Master (IM) Zaw Win Lay of Myanmar in the 34th move by using the Ruy Lopez opening.

After four rounds, Utut collected 2 Victory Points (VP), along with Ehlvest. Polgar is still in top position with 3 VPs, followed by Karpov, Khalifman, Seirawan and Milos with 2.5 VPs each. Timman is next with 1.5 VPs, Ruben has 1 VPs while Zaw is bottom with 0.5 VPs.

Using the Catalan opening, Utut created the opportunity to infiltrate Timman's defense in the 12th move by capturing Timman's black pawn at c6.

But Utut had to sacrifice his pawn to Timman's queen at a2 in the next move. In the 16th move, Utut's queen managed to enter Timman's defense zone in e7.

Then Utut and Timman started to threaten and attack each other on their squares. The maneuvers stopped when both players agreed to draw.

Utut said after the match that it had to end in draw.

"We do not make any miscalculations so the result should have been a draw. But the game was really tough," he said.

Ruben suffered a time crisis. He could not fulfill the tournament rule which states that each player has two hours to make 40 moves. Ruben spent one hour and 59 minutes to make 37 moves, while Ehlvest took one hour 46 minutes.

Ehlvest's good start might have bewildered Ruben. In the 11th move, Ehlvest white rook made the line c half-open and targeted Ruben's black pawn at c7.

At this point, Ruben seemed to waste much time calculating his next maneuver.

Anyway, Ruben would not have benefited should he have continued the game because he would have had to give up his knight at d7 to Ehlvest's queen.

"It was difficult for me to escape Ehlvest's constant pressure," Ruben said after the match.

At another table, Karpov proved his class as a champion when he stunned Polgar in the 17th move. Polgar had earlier tried to block Karpov from castling by moving her queen from e4 to g4 in the 11th move.

But in the 17th move, Karpov's black bishop seized Polgar's pawn at c2. In the 33th move, Karpov's queen nabbed Polgar's queen at e5, and in the 40th move, Polgar advanced her pawn to a5 to threaten Karpov's pawn, and she offered a draw. Should they continue the game, Karpov can seize Polgar's pawn, yet both players will tie.

There will be no games on Wednesday. On Thursday, Utut will challenge Karpov, the FIDE world champion from 1975 to 1985 and from 1993 to 1999. Polgar will meet Zaw, Khalifman will play Milos, Ehlvest will face Timman and Ruben will be face-to-face with Seirawan.