INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Garry Kasparov of Russia confirmed his status as the world’s best player with an impressive victory in the Hoogovens tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Kasparov scored 10-3 against a powerful field that included most of his closest rivals. Although Kasparov faltered a bit after a blazing 7 1/2- 1/2 start, he called the result “the best tournament of my career.”

Viswanathan Anand of India finished a close second with an undefeated total of 9 1/2-3 1/2. Kasparov proclaimed that there are backers for a $3-million match between Anand and himself, but Anand, who remains loyal to the World Chess Federation, has shown no interest in challenging Kasparov for his World Chess Council championship title.

Vladimir Kramnik took third prize with, for him, a routine undefeated score of 8-5. Kramnik may be the world’s toughest player to defeat, but he sometimes fails to push hard for a win against weaker opponents.

Next at 7-6 were Jeroen Piket (Netherlands), Alexey Shirov (Spain), Ivan Sokolov (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Jan Timman (Netherlands). Sokolov, winless at 3-5, defeated Kasparov and won his next two games to achieve one of his best performances ever.

Other scores: Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) and Peter Svidler (Russia), 6 1/2-6 1/2; Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), 6-7; Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan), 5-8; Loek Van Wely (Netherlands), 4 1/2-8 1/2; 1996 U.S. champion Alex Yermolinsky (Ohio), 4-9; and Dimitri Reinderman (Netherlands), 3-10.

A match between Yasser Seirawan of Seattle and Michael Adams of England ended in a 5-5 tie last Sunday in Bermuda. Adams, the world’s ninth-ranked grandmaster and a slight favorite, won the first and eighth games. Seirawan, a three-time U.S. champion who again holds the highest international rating of any American, won the fourth and sixth games.

LOCAL NEWS

If you think of chess tournaments as grim affairs, drop in at the U.S. Amateur Team Championship West next weekend, Feb. 13-15, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 5985 W. Century Blvd. in Los Angeles. You will see serious competition mixed with the goofy atmosphere created by silly team names and costumes.

The winning team from the USAT West will challenge the winners of the East, South and Midwest regionals in a telephone playoff for the title of U.S. Amateur Team champions. The rating limit (no team can average 2200, or master level) guarantees glory for some non-masters.

More important, though, every player gets to contribute to his team’s efforts. Many will feel the thrill of scoring the decisive point to help a team win a match. Even the disappointment of a loss can be cushioned by the successes of one’s teammates.

Anyone can join a team. For help, call Mike Carr at (949) 768-3538 or Randy Hough at (626) 282-7412.

The Scholastic Amateur Team Championship takes place Feb. 14-15 at the Crowne Plaza. Students in grades K-12 will form four-player teams averaging less than 1200 in rating. As in the USAT West, players will compete for both individual and team trophies.

The weekend also features a free lecture by IM Jeremy Silman on Sunday afternoon, a blitz tournament late Sunday night and a quickplay (10-minute games) event at 2 p.m. Monday.

Ilya Malinskiy scored a perfect 4-0 to win the Advanced section of the fifth Warner Winter tournament, held Jan. 30 at Warner Elementary School in Westwood. Aleksandr Kavutskiy and Taylor Martini tied for second at 3 1/2- 1/2. Joshua Shaham swept the Booster (under-700) section with a 5-0 score, a half-point ahead of Jonathan Bell. The tournament attracted a good turnout of 113 young players.