INTERNATIONAL NEWS
The 1996 world junior champion, Emil Sutovsky of Israel, won an interesting four-player double round robin in Hoogeveen, Netherlands. Sutovsky scored 4-2 to collect the first prize of 10,000 Dutch guilders (about $5,000). Judit Polgar (Hungary) and Loek Van Wely (Netherlands) tied for second at 3-3, and former world champion Vassily Smyslov (Russia) scored 2-4.
Sutovsky is a well prepared grandmaster with a flair for attack. For the second time in less than a year, he refuted a variation of the Sicilian Defense that Polgar tested against him.
Smyslov drew all of his games against Sutovsky and Polgar, but lost twice to Van Wely. At age 76, his results are unpredictable. He retains his deep understanding of strategy, but sometimes lacks the energy to calculate thoroughly in complicated positions.
IBM has announced that it will sell a new line of computer workstations that use the same technology as Deep Blue, the machine that defeated world champion Garry Kasparov in May. Deep Blue, an RS/6000 supercomputer capable of examining 200 million chess positions per second, has officially retired from chess. The new Model 397 workstation, which will cost $29,900, will be marketed to companies that do advanced design work.
LOCAL NEWS
The eighth annual SPACC Fall Classic, a two-section tournament for students in grades K-12, takes place Oct. 25 at St. Paul the Apostle School, 1536 Selby Ave. in Westwood. Both the four-round Championship section and the five-round Junior Varsity section (for entrants rated below 900 in grades K-8) begin at 9:30 a.m. Registration at the site closes at 8:55 a.m. For more information, call Brian Ouzounian at (310) 838-3571.
Chess Palace, the unique chess store and club at 4336 Katella Ave. in Los Alamitos, plans to run Quick chess (15 minutes per player per game) tournaments at 7:30 p.m. every Friday. Each entrant will play White and Black against three opponents, a total of six games. For more details, or for a full listing of the club’s activities, call Charles Rostedt at (562) 598-5099.