CHESS : INTERNATIONAL NEWS

The notion of male supremacy in chess took another hit last week in Prague, as a team of the world’s leading female players defeated a team of veteran male grandmasters, 26 1/2-23 1/2. Dutch businessman Joop Van Oosterom, who has sponsored this battle of the sexes for four years, managed to assemble the strongest male lineup in the event’s history. Yet the women won for the third straight time.

Individual results of the women: Pia Cramling, age 32, of Sweden and Judit Polgar, 18, of Hungary, 6 1/2-3 1/2; women’s world champion Xie Jun, 24, of China, 5-5; Zsuzsa Polgar, 26, of Hungary, 4 1/2-5 1/2, and Nana Ioseliani, 33, of Georgia, 4-6. Men’s results: Victor Korchnoi, 64, of Switzerland, 5 1/2-4 1/2; former world champions Vassily Smyslov, 74, of Russia and Boris Spassky, 58, of France, 5-5; Vlastimil Hort, 51, of Germany, 4 1/2-5 1/2, and Lajos Portisch, 58, of Hungary, 3 1/2-6 1/2. The rating system predicted a 27 1/2-22 1/2 victory for the men, who were rated an average of 40 points higher.

LOCAL NEWS

The U.S. Game/60 Championship, the national championship for one-hour chess, attracted 109 players to Buena Park last weekend for nine rounds of excitement and agony. The one-hour time limit, while not as extreme as Action chess (25 or 30 minutes per game), definitely forces players to change their thinking habits. It rewards those rare souls who can limit themselves to less than one minute per move and punishes the rest of us who occasionally pause for longer reflection on complicated decisions. Many games led to time pressure scrambles in which the quicker thinker escaped from a “hopeless” position.

The two highest-rated entrants, IMs Igor Ivanov and Jack Peters, tied for first place with undefeated scores of 7 1/2-1 1/2. Clear third at 7-2 was GM Rosendo Balinas, followed by Neil Basescu, Stephen Booth, Bob Ciaffone, Mark Duckworth, James Maki, Edmund Pascual, IM Anthony Saidy and Charles Van Buskirk at 6 1/2-2 1/2. Van Buskirk earned the best game prize for defeating Pascual.

Class prizes went to: Fred Mastin, Richard Mattern, Ike Miller, Honorio Nocon, Mike Shvartsman and Mitchell Vergara, top experts; Julie Desch, Horace Keesey, Lawrence Howell and Anthony Sarmiento, best “A”; Huy Lu, “B”; Bryan Smith, “C”; Jaime Reyes, “D”, and Ryan Hyder and Nelson Condenza, best unrated. Jonathan Goldfarb scored 5 1/2-3 1/2 to garner the Scholastic prize.

The third and fourth rounds of the Southern California Chess Federation’s state championship tournament take place at 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. today, at the Holiday Inn, 7000 Beach Blvd. in Buena Park. The round robin will conclude with games at 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on July 29 and at 1 p.m. on July 30. Spectators are invited to attend, free of charge.

The Calabasas Chess Club, which opened July 11, will meet Tuesday evenings at the Calabasas Tennis and Swim Center, 23400 Park Sorrento in Calabasas Park. The club will conduct tournaments and offer instruction by master Ron Hermansen. For more information, call Michael Keating at (818) 222-2182 or Hermansen at (818) 360-0592.

The S.P.A. Summer Chess Workshop, a program for children aged 5 to 14, begins Aug. 8 at St. Paul the Apostle School, 1536 Selby Ave. in Westwood. Sessions are scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon on Aug. 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 and 17. For all of the details, call John Surlow at (310) 479-8377.