CHESS : INTERNATIONAL NEWS
The strongest tournament in recent memory ended in a convincing victory for world champion Garry Kasparov of Russia. Kasparov went undefeated in a double round robin in Las Palmas, capital of the Canary Islands. He scored 6 1/2-3 1/2 against his five leading rivals, including a draw and a win in his first two games against former champion Anatoly Karpov since 1994.
Viswanathan Anand of India took second prize with 5 1/2-4 1/2. Next, at 5-5, were Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Karpov tied for last at 4-6.
LOCAL NEWS
The seventh annual SPA Holiday Scholastic, held Dec. 21 at St. Paul the Apostle School in Westwood, attracted 171 entrants. That is the largest turnout for a scholastic tournament in Los Angeles this decade, and the third-largest (behind two Bakersfield events) in Southern California during the 1990s.
William Surlow, the longtime St. Paul the Apostle standout who now lives in Pennsylvania, swept the Championship (grades K-12) section with a perfect 4-0 score. Patrick Falconer, Minas Nordanyan, Kevin Sevilla and Arutyan Varuzhanyan tied for second with scores of 3 1/2- 1/2.
Zenan Chang, Arman Keshishian and Aleksan Maymaryan all achieved perfect 5-0 scores in the Junior Varsity (grades K-8, rated under 900) section.
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