Utut Adianto Wahyuwidayat is an Indonesian chess player and politician, notable for being one of the most successful chess grandmasters in Indonesian history. He was born on March 16, 1965 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Adianto earned his FIDE International Master (IM) title in 1985 and his Grandmaster (GM) title in 1986. His title of grandmaster was the first awarded to an Indonesian by FIDE, making him a significant figure in the world of chess.
Throughout his chess career, he has won multiple national and international tournaments, including the Moscow Open Chess Championship in 1999 and the Indonesians National Chess Championship in 1982. He has represented Indonesia numerous times in the Chess Olympiads, mainly as its first board.
Adianto’s influence extends beyond the chess board. He founded the Utut Adianto Chess School, aiming to help young Indonesians develop their skills in the game. He has also written several books about chess. Furthermore, he became involved in politics by becoming a member of the Democratic Party, and was elected as a member of the Indonesian House of Representatives in 2009.
In the chess community, he has also held several important administrative roles. He served as the Deputy President of the Indonesian Chess Federation from 2000 to 2005. He also served as the Deputy President of the Asean Chess Confederation from 2000 to 2004, and as the Vice President of the Asian Chess Federation from 2005 to 2009.
Despite his retirement from professional chess in 2005, Utut Adianto's contributions to chess in Indonesia and the world continue to be recognized. He was awarded the Bintang Jasa Utama, the highest civilian honor given by the Indonesian government, in 2009. In 2020, the Indonesian Ministry of Youth and Sports named him one of the country's top 10 influential figures in the field of sports.