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Utut stuns Alekseev in Tripoli

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  • Utut stuns Alekseev in Tripoli

    Utut stuns Alekseev in Tripoli

    Jakarta Post
    June 22, 2004

    Musthofid, Jakarta -- Grand Master (GM) Utut Adianto of Indonesia
    defeated GM Evgeny Alekseev of Russia to advance to the second round
    of the World Chess Championship in Tripoli, Libya, on Sunday.

    Utut, who has an elo-rating of 2591 against Alekseev's 2616 went
    through on 1.5-0.5 points in two games in the knock-out tournament,
    which featured 128 players from around the world.

    "We were involved in a tense and dramatic battle before I could
    stop him for a place in the second round," Utut reported to Jakarta
    by e-mail.

    After his attacking tactical ploy ended in a draw in the first game
    on Saturda, Utut started the second game more aggressively in an
    all-out bid for a win.

    The 38-year-old Indonesian employed remarkable restraint during the
    game. He won a pawn in the 41st move and took another in a later move
    before forcing the 19-year-old Russian into submission in 61 moves
    in four-and-a-half hours.

    Utut's opponent in the second round is GM Vladimir Akopian of Armenia.
    Akopian (2689), who was a finalist in the 1999 championship, defeated
    Jose Gonzalez Garcia of Mexico on Sunday.

    It is Utut's fourth appearance in the world championship. He reached
    the second rounds in 1997 and 2000 while he exited in the first round
    in 1999.

    The top seeds had little difficulty in getting past their lower-rated
    opponents, with GM Vaselin Topalov, GM Michael Adams, GM Vassily
    Ivanchuk and GM Nigel Short each registering 2-0 victories.

    The Tripoli chess meet is going ahead in the absence of reigning
    champion, GM Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine, who has opted to skip the
    tournament in protest at the tournament format.
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