Utut wins in final round game at Aeroflot Open

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After drawing in his last two matches, Grand Master (GM) Utut Adianto bounced back with victory, beating Zhao Xue in the final round of the Aeroflot Open chess tournament in Moscow on Wednesday.

Utut, who played black, stopped the Chinese women's grand master in 34 moves of a Queen's Gambit defense, according to Utut's companion, Kristianus Liem, in a release here on Thursday.

The result earns Utut an overall 5.5 points, and, according to Kristianus, Utut will probably finish in 35th place among the 201 participants in the final standings.

"His rating will also improve. Though, it is not a significant addition of points," Kristianus said.

Belarusians Aleksei Fedorov, Alexei Aleksandrov, Peter Svidler of Russia and Viktor Bologan of Moldova ended the tournament at the top with 7 points each.

Separately in Jakarta, Tirta Chandra and Tirto maintained their shared place at the top at the Gunadarma "elo-rating" chess tournament after both drew in their game in the eighth round on Thursday.

The joint leaders were involved in a 57-move, French game before agreeing to a draw.

Both have collected 5.5 points each, half a point over a pack of five players, namely GM Edhi Handoko, GM Ruben Gunawan, GM Ardiansyah, FIDE Master (FM) Irwanto Sadikin and Susanto Megaranto.

Susanto and Tirta are the only two juniors among 14 seniors in the competition. Susanto took a scalp by defeating Ardiansyah on the day and now needs another five points to earn a full International Master (IM) title.