Utut waits for a miracle

Utut waits for a miracle

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian Grand Master (GM) Utut Adianto looks
set to abandon his dreams of playing in the 2001 World Chess
Championship after losing his eighth-round match at the Asian
qualifier in Calcutta on Tuesday.

Utut was outwitted by unknown International Master (IM) Odeev
Handszar of Turkmenisten to concede his third defeat in the
tournament. Having three games in hand, Utut is placed 30s with
four points from three wins and two draws.

Only the top 10 in the event qualify for the World
Championship in Monte Carlo this November.

To keep his dimming chances, not only does Utut have to win
the remaining games, but his fate depends on other players'
results.

The other Indonesian contender, IM Dede Liu, chalked up an
upset win over GM Dao Thian Hai, but his collection of 3.5 points
is already far from beating the odds.

Top seed GM Xu Jun of China leads the standings with seven
points, ahead of GM Saidali Iuldachev of Uzbekistan, who Xu drew
on Tuesday, with six points. The chasing pack with 5.5 points
include GM Alexei Barsov of Uzbekistan, IM Pentala Harikrishna of
India, GM Nguyen Anh Dung of Vietnam, IM Viktor Takhidov of
Uzbekistan and IM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan of Iran. (01)