Utut vs Zhu in blindfold chess game
Utut vs Zhu in blindfold chess game
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
GM Utut Adianto, Indonesia's number one chess grand master, is
scheduled to take on world women's champion GM Zhu Chen of China
in a two-game blindfold match on Sunday in a prelude to the
Makita-Lakoni International Grand Master Tournament.
While not playing their moves on a chessboard, Utut and Zhu
will announce their moves through chess notation and match
officials will move the pieces for them.
Two games will be played, with 25 minutes of thinking time for
each player permitted.
The first will be screened live on ANTV from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
at the Graha Kita Karya building, Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta.
"If they draw they will play a blitz game," organizing
committee member Eka Putra Wirya told The Jakarta Post here on
Wednesday.
A blitz game allows a player with white pieces six minutes of
thinking time and black five minutes. In the event of a draw, the
player with black pieces is declared the winner.
Despite being an exhibition match, a total of US$3,000 in cash
prizes is up for grabs, with the winner taking two-thirds of the
sum.
The blindfold game will be a curtain-raiser ahead of the six-
way Makita tournament in which Utut and Zhu, who is scheduled to
arrive on Saturday, will be paired against four other players.
The tournament will run from Feb. 16 to 25 with three
Indonesian male players being pitted against three visiting women
grand masters. Claimed as a match between Kings of Indonesia and
Queens of the World, the tournament offers a total US$12,500 in
cash prizes.
The other Indonesians are International Master (IM) Danny
Juswanto and IM Susanto Megaranto.
2002 European champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria and
2000 Asian champion IM Hoang Thanh Trang of Vietnam are the other
two foreign contenders.
Hoang and Stefanova are scheduled to arrive on Friday.
With a players' rating of 2495 on average, the tournament is
categorized as 10th-rated, which means, according to chess
columnist Kristianus Liem, a player will need to collect at least
seven points from ten rounds to gain a GM norm.
Kristianus, who is the spokesperson of the Indonesian Chess
Association (Percasi), said that all the matches would use a
digital electronic smartboard, which would enable chess fans to
follow games live from twelve TV screens installed outside the
building.
The matches can also be viewed on www.sekolahcatur.com.