CHESS : INTERNATIONAL NEWS

The World Chess Federation (FIDE) has abandoned plans to stage its world championship match in Baghdad. FIDE president Kirsam Ilyumzhinov, who announced the shocking choice of Baghdad in March, now plans to start the match June 1 in his hometown of Elista, capital of the Russian republic of Kalmykia.

FIDE world champion Anatoly Karpov of Russia and challenger Gata Kamsky of New York have not yet agreed to play in Elista. In a fax to Ilyumzhinov that was distributed on the Internet, Kamsky objected to playing in Russia. He insisted on a “neutral country.”

In an interview with the Russian newspaper Trud, Ilyumzhinov, who is also a member of Russia’s Parliament, described his initial choice of Baghdad as “some kind of advertising” and said that he knew all along that the match would take place elsewhere. He revealed his non-chess motives when he said, “At the order of the Russian government, I am in the process of negotiating with the leadership of Iraq with the goal to return to our country the money that Iraq owes it.” On another occasion, he asserted that Iraq owes Russia $10 billion.

Ilyumzhinov’s shenanigans have embarrassed FIDE again. What a shame that the world’s most prominent chess official displays so little loyalty to the game he represents.

Vladimir Kramnik of Russia won the fifth Amber Rapids, the unique two-section tournament that ended Wednesday in Monaco. Kramnik had the best result (9-2) in the blindfold portion of the tournament, and he added a third-best score of 7-4 in the rapid (25 minutes per player, plus 10 seconds per move) section for a total of 16-6. Second overall was Viswanathan Anand of India, with 7 1/2-3 1/2 in each section.

Other scores: Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), 7-4 blindfold and 7 1/2-3 1/2 rapid; Kamsky, 5 1/2-5 1/2 and 6 1/2-4 1/2; Karpov, 6 1/2-4 1/2 and 5-6; Joel Lautier (France) and Alexey Shirov (Spain), each 6-5 and 5 1/2-5 1/2; Jeroen Piket (Netherlands), 4-7 and 7-4; Judit Polgar (Hungary), 5-6 and 6-5; Predrag Nikolich (Bosnia and Hercegovina), 4 1/2-6 1/2 and 4-7; Ljubomir Ljubojevich (Spain), 3 1/2-7 1/2 and 1 1/2-9 1/2; and former women’s world champion Xie Jun (China), 1 1/2-9 1/2 and 3-8. Kamsky scored 0-2 against Karpov.

LOCAL NEWS

Two California masters shared top honors last weekend in the 1996 National Junior High School Chess Championship in Orlando, Fla. Harutyun Akopyan of Hollywood and Vinay Bhat of San Jose led the grades K-9 section of the 875-player event with scores of 6 1/2- 1/2. Both young stars are familiar with chess success; they have earned previous national titles and have competed internationally in age-group world championships.

Ron Frasco scored 6 1/2-1 1/2 to win the 38-player Santa Monica Bay Chess Club Championship. Ron Hanoian was second at 6-2, followed by Eion Faelten and Simon Kogan at 5 1/2-2 1/2. Peter Rajna, Stevon Spurgeon, J.R. Regal and Khalil Musleh earned class prizes.