CHESS : INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Three players share the lead in the highest-rated tournament of all time, and world champion Garry Kasparov is not among them. With one round to go, Viswanathan Anand of India, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria have scores of 5 1/2-2 1/2 in the great tournament in Dos Hermanas, Spain. Kasparov is fourth at 4 1/2-3 1/2.

Boris Gelfand of Belarus and Miguel Illescas Cordoba of Spain have respectable 4-4 scores. Out of contention are Gata Kamsky (New York) and Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) at 3-5, and Judit Polgar (Hungary) and Alexey Shirov (Spain) at 2 1/2-5 1/2. Kamsky, who will start his 20-game World Chess Federation world championship match against Anatoly Karpov on June 6, has six draws and not a single win.

In a tournament filled with exciting games, Kasparov’s sixth-round loss to Kramnik stands out. Kasparov blitzed his first 18 moves against his nemesis, but Kramnik found a Knight sacrifice that created unfathomable complications. Unexpectedly thrown on the defensive, Kasparov made a couple of slips and suffered a rare loss as White.

LOCAL NEWS

Yona Kosashvili, a 25-year old Israeli grandmaster, won the 17th Memorial Day Classic last weekend in Long Beach. Kosashvili was nicked for a third-round draw by IM Marc Leski, but he defeated IM Igor Ivanov, IM Jack Peters and GM Walter Browne in the last three rounds to score 5 1/2- 1/2 and collect the $2,500 first prize.

Ivanov and IM Anthony Saidy shared second place, scoring 5-1. The tournament’s special invitee, WGM Zsofia Polgar, tied for fourth at 4 1/2-1 1/2 with Levon Altounian, who won their fourth-round encounter.

The best under-2450 prizes were split among Reynaldo Del Pilar, Ron Hermansen and Steve Ramos, who scored 4-2. Under-2300 honors went to Harutyun Akopyan and Roger Norman, at 3 1/2-2 1/2.

David Moberly won the under-2200 section with 5 1/2- 1/2, yielding a draw only to second-place finisher Jonathan Baker. Other section winners: Jay Adellanosa and Nicanor Navarro, 5 1/2- 1/2 in the under-2000; Ron Ehrenworth, 6-0 in under-1800; Philip Anima, 5 1/2- 1/2 in under-1600; Michael Daniels and Michael Jeffreys, 5-1 in under-1400; and Epifario Quijano, 5 1/2- 1/2 in the unrated section.

The turnout of 301 players was a bit less than in 1995, but enough to cover the $20,000 prize fund and ensure a small profit for organizer Charles Rostedt and The Chess Set.

The Western States Scholastic Championship on Memorial Day drew 135 players. William Surlow topped the Championship section, scoring 4-0. Samuel Rees scored a perfect 5-0 in the junior varsity (under-1100) section, while Scott Medling and Arsen Nordanyan shared first place in the Elementary section.