CHESS : INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Pavel Blatny of the Czech Republic won the $10,000 first prize in the New York Open with an outstanding 8-1 score. Blatny finished a full point ahead of his countryman Zbynek Hracek, Lembit Oll (the 1994 co-winner) of Estonia, Joel Benjamin of New York and Peter Svidler of Russia.
Next at 6 1/2-2 1/2 was a star-studded group of IM Michael Brooks (Missouri) and grandmasters Michael Adams (England), Utut Adianto (Indonesia), Roberto Cifuentes Parada (Chile), Vladimir Epishin (Russia), Gregory Kaidanov (Kentucky), Ivan Morovich Fernandez (Chile), Alexander Shabalov (Pennsylvania), Gabriel Schwartzman (Florida), Vladislav Tkachiev (Kazakhstan) and Paul Van der Sterren (Netherlands).
Jonathan Yedidia of Irvine defeated two grandmasters, Alex Fishbein and John Fedorowicz, en route to a 6-3 score. He earned the $2,000 under-2400 prize and achieved a norm for the title of International Master.
LOCAL NEWS
The 66-player Santa Monica Bay Chess Club Championship ended Monday in a three-way tie among Sean Fitzpatrick, William Longren and Emmanuel Spyrou. Each scored 6 1/2-1 1/2. Jon Guilaroff, Randy Hough, Simon Kogan and Erwin McNaughton split the expert prize, while Ed Bayer (best “A”), Todd Adams (“B”), Michael Ashooh (“C”), Ed Sasaki (“D-E”) and Raymond Luk (best unrated) excelled in their classes.
The SMBCC, which meets at 7:30 p.m. Mondays at 1450 Ocean Ave. in Santa Monica, will conduct its annual meeting Monday. The next tournament, the three-round May Quads, begins May 1. For information, call Steve Hughes at (310) 450-7201.
Peter Tidoy topped the 44-player Spring Swiss at the West Valley Chess Club with a score of 5 1/2- 1/2. Class prizes went to Robert Tischler (best over-2000), Dariush Dejam (“A”), Dana Jackson (“B”), John Price (“C”), John Millhone (under-1400), and Vahe Tchilinguirian (best unrated).
The West Valley Chess Club, which meets at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays in the West Valley Jewish Community Center, 22622 Vanowen St. in Canoga Park, begins a five-round tournament on Thursday. For more information, call Herman Hess at (818) 346-5959 or John Price at (818) 363-1379.
William Pennucci scored 6-0 to win the Gym for the Mind Club Championship for the fourth year in a row. The club, at 4907 Topanga Canyon Blvd. in Woodland Hills, will hold the Friday Night Blast this Friday. It’s an eight-game quickplay (10 minutes per player per game) tournament, starting at 6:30 p.m. Call David Esser at (818) 710-8042 for details.