INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Once again, Garry Kasparov is demonstrating that he is unquestionably the world’s best player. After a period of inactivity in 1998, Kasparov won the first elite tournament of 1999 in the Netherlands in January, and now he is running away from the field at the Ciudad de Linares tournament in Linares, Spain.

After nine of 14 rounds, Kasparov leads with an undefeated score of 7-2. His total includes four wins on the Black side of the Sicilian Defense.

No other player has won more than two games. Russian star Vladimir Kramnik, ranked third in the world, occupies second place at 5 1/2-3 1/2, and #2 Viswanathan Anand of India is third at 5-4.

Other scores: Michael Adams (England), 4 1/2-4 1/2; Peter Leko (Hungary) and Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), 4-5; and Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) and Peter Svidler (Russia), 3-6. Adams, the early leader, lost in successive rounds to Kasparov and Kramnik. Svidler suffered four straight defeats in rounds 6-9.

Anatoly Karpov of Russia and Jeroen Piket of the Netherlands tied a match, 4-4, in Monaco. Both players fought fiercely, but all eight games ended in draws.

Piket, ranked 50th in the world at 2619 on the latest World Chess Federation (FIDE) list, must take more pride in the outcome than Karpov, still officially FIDE’s world champion. But don’t write off the 47-year-old Karpov! He had not competed inmonths, and it’s far more likely that his poor result was due to rustiness than to failing powers.

LOCAL NEWS

The SCCF State High School Championship takes place March 13-14 at Monroe High School, Haskell Avenue at Nordhoff in North Hills. Any student in grades K-12 may participate, but only those in grades 9-12 are eligible to win the Southern California Chess Federation’s state championship title. Younger entrants will compete for grade prizes. The SCCF has promised to award at least 80 trophies, including some for best team performances.

The Championship section lasts six rounds, with three 90-minute games Saturday and three more Sunday. The separate Under-1400 and Under-1000 sections are one-day events, with five 30-minute games on Saturday. For more information, call Randy Hough at (626) 282-7412 or Steve Hughes at (818) 474-7451.

Chess Palace will host “Super Sunday” tournaments on March 14 and 28. Charles Rostedt, owner of the Los Alamitos chess shop, has been so pleased with the turnout for his special Action chess (30-minute games) events that he plans to hold them twice each month. For full information, call him at (562) 598-5099.