INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Garry Kasparov calls it “Chess of the Future.” The man who lost a celebrated match against a computer now wants grandmasters to team with computers to produce higher-quality games. In the first test of this idea, Kasparov and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria tied a match, 3-3, in Leon, Spain.

During the one-hour games, each player could consult a chess database or get advice from a chess-playing program. Interestingly, the audience could see a display of all of the variations and subvariations that the humans tested, almost as if the players were giving running commentary on the game.

Were the games better than those of the recent Kasparov vs. Topalov match, a 4-0 wipeout by Kasparov? Possibly. I think Kasparov should repeat the experiment, with a slower time limit.

Etienne Bacrot, the 15-year-old French grandmaster, defeated German stalwart Robert Huebner, 3 1/2-2 1/2, in a standard time control match. Bacrot won the fifth game and drew the rest. This is the third time that Bacrot has faced a veteran grandmaster in a short match. Last year, Bacrot lost, 2-4, to Viktor Korchnoi. In 1996, Bacrot defeated former world champion Vassily Smyslov by a shocking 5-1 score.

Anatoly Karpov, the official world champion of the World Chess Federation, lost a horribly played Action chess (30-minute games) match in Budapest to Hungarian star Judit Polgar. Polgar’s 5-3 margin of victory does not tell the full story. Karpov outplayed her repeatedly, attaining absolutely winning positions in at least three games, but he did not manage to win a single one. Polgar won twice; once on time from a lost position, and once when Karpov blundered away his Queen in an even position. In another game, Karpov had King, Queen, Bishop and pawn against Polgar’s King and pawn, but allowed a draw by stalemate.

LOCAL NEWS

A field of 21 players, including five masters, competed in the first “Super Sunday” tournament at Chess Palace in Los Alamitos last weekend. Viktor Kuperman earned first prize with a score of 4 1/2- 1/2, yielding a draw only to Sid Rubin. William Surlow finished second with 4-1. Surlow, who defeated Rubin and former state champion Thomas Wolski, pushed his rating above 2200, making him a master at age 15.

Class prizes went to Dan Erlikhman, Joe Hanley and Gennadiy Titkov, best experts; Minas Nordanyan, top “A”; Jim Houzvicka, top “B”; and Ron Hoffman, best under-1600.

Chess Palace owner Charles Rostedt, delighted that the tournament broke even financially, plans to run “Super Sunday” events, with enhanced prize money, on the second Sunday of every month. For the complete Chess Palace schedule, call (562) 598-5099.

David Argall and Matthew Beelby scored 4 1/2- 1/2 to tie for first place in the Arcadia Warmup, a 47-player tournament at the Arcadia Chess Club. Robert Goldberg and Miroslav Stroukal shared the Class “A” prize, Denton Anderson took top “B,” Randall Chambers, Peter Libertone and Frank Wosczyna split “C” honors, and Brian Ofalla won the “D-E-unrated” prize.

The club, which runs tournaments continuously on Monday evenings in the Senior Citizens Center, 405 S. Santa Anita Ave. in Arcadia, begins another tournament on June 22. For details, call Fred Brock at (626) 331-1638.

The Wilshire Chess Society’s June Action quad (three 45-minute games against similarly rated opponents) will be held June 28 in the Community Room (third floor, near the food court) of the Westside Pavilion, Pico Blvd. at Overland Ave. in Los Angeles. Register at the site at 10 a.m. or call Michael Jeffreys at (310) 473-6291.

The Santa Monica Bay Chess Club will sponsor the 38th annual Pacific Southwest Open July 3-5 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 5985 W. Century Blvd. in Los Angeles. It’s a six-round tournament, with separate Open and Amateur (for those rated under 1800) sections. Call Randy Hough at (626) 282-7412 for full information on the oldest major chess event in the area.