Utut holds Akopian in first game

The Jakarta Post
June 23, 2004

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Grand Master (GM) Utut Adianto, the only Indonesian representative in the
world chess championships now underway in Tripoli, Libya, had to be content
with a draw with GM Vladimir Akopian in the first game of the second round
on Monday.

Playing with black pieces, Utut pressed ahead with his attacking game.

In the game, which could be viewed live on the internet, Utut who gained his
championship berth through the Dubai qualifying tournament, won a pawn on
the 29th move.

Although he had to give away his own in the later moves, Utut looked to have
built a promising position with his pawn having a cleared passage in the
a-file.

However, Akopian, the 1999 championship runner-up from Armenia, defended
tenaciously and a draw was agreed after 39 moves.

On the other boards, favorites GM Michael Adams and GM Vassily Ivanchuk were
surprisingly held to draws by Karen Asrian and Pentala Harikrishna, who have
lower ratings than the former two.

Meanwhile, Vaselin Topalov, who has been tagged as the top seed in the
absence of a number of the world elite players, scored a 1-0 win over
Aleksander Delchev. Nigel Short and Alexander Grischuk also beat their
respective opponents.

The second games are to be played on Tuesday to decide which of the
remaining 64 contenders will qualify for the next stage.