Anatoly Karpov is still running on a full head of steam. Is there such a thing as enough chess for him?
Right after his world championship matches, which ran from Oct. 3 in New York to Dec. 31 in Lyon, France, he plunged into the all-grandmaster, double-round Reggio Emilia International Tournament in Italy.Through the first six rounds, the former world champion took it easy, drawing every game.
But in Round 7 he defeated 16-year-old Gata Kamsky of Brooklyn, and in Round 8, Ulf Andersson of Sweden. Another victory against his countryman, Mikhail Gurevich in Round 13 helped him capture first place with a 7 1/2-4 1/2 score.
Lev Polugayevsky of the Soviet Union won second place with 7-5, Jaan Ehlvest of the Soviet Union was third with 6 1/2-5 1/2, Zoltan Ribli of Hungary tied for fourth with Gurevich at 5 1/2-5 1/2, and Kamsky and Andersson shared last place with 5-7.
Robert Byrne in the New York Times noted, "When Karpov slowly squeezed Kamsky to defeat in 71 moves, one could see that the boa constrictor was back in full form!"
- HASTINGS - Yevgeny Bareyev, a 24-year-old Soviet grandmaster, stuck to his guns in the Hastings International Tournament in Britain from Dec. 28 to Jan. 13, repeatedly using his favorite attack against the almost universally acclaimed Nimzo-Indian Defense.
He won again and again with it, and when the double-round competition was over, he had won first place with a high score of 10 1/2-3 1/2.
His unsurprised opponents could not cope with his mastery of the strategy of this opening.
The final standings were:
1. Bareyev, 10 1/2
2. Chandler, 8
3. Speelman, 7 1/2
4-5. Larsen, Sax, 7
6. Olafsson, 6
7. King, 5 1/2
8. Kosten, 41/2.
Newcomers to the world of chess will be interested to know, perhaps, that once the Hastings Tournament was considered the world's premier tournament. It is still a prestigious tournament.
Hastings is a town in Sussex, England, famous to all schoolboys as William the Conqueror's landing place in England from which he fought the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
It has been the venue for many chess tournaments: The Hastings Christmas Chess Congress was held annually (either there or at nearby St. Leonards-on-Sea) from 1920 to 1966, with the exception of the war years.
From 1967 the London Times has co-sponsored tournaments with the Hastings and St. Leonards Corporation.
In the Premier Tournament at Hastings, 1925-26, Dr. Alexander Alekhine and Dr. Milan Vidmar, Yugoslavia, both scored 8 1/2 out of 9 (they drew each other). This was the closest any participants at Hastings have come to a clear (100 percent) score.
For a bit more history: One of the strongest chess tournaments ever held in England was the Hastings Tournament of 1895. It was an all-play-all tournament with 22 competitors and was won by Harry Nelson Pillsbury, later a leading American player. Tchigorin won second place and Lasker third.
The victory of Pillsbury, an unknown at the time, was completely unexpected and caused a sensation. The result launched him on his short international career by prompting his invitation to compete in St. Petersburg in 1895.
The other competitors included many of the top masters of the world: Albin, Bardeleben, Blackburne, Burn, Gunsberg, Janowski, Mason, Mieses, Schiffers, Schlecter, Steinitz, Tarrasch, Teichmann, Samuel Tinsley and Benjamin Vergani.
- PREP TOURNAMENT - The Utah High School State Championship Tournament will be held March 22-23 at Weber State University in Ogden. This is a tournament for players in grades 9-12. The organizer is Douglas Duncan (479-3145). The tournament directors will be Bruce McMaster (224-5640) and Robert Jones (250-6485).
- CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SOLVERS! - Richard Schow, Robert W. Lee, Camrie Copier, Russell Anderson, Jack Crandall, Ramon E. Bassett, Eugene Wagstaff, Gordon Green, Aaron T. Kennard, Nathan Kennard, Raeburn Kennard, William DeVroom, Kim Barney, Ted Pathakis, Ardean Watts, Kay Lundstrom, Ashley Ann Graves, David Moody, Hal Harmon, Hal Knight, Edwin O. Smith, Alison Hermance, Stanley Hunt, Jim Reed, Roger Neumann and Sharon Steimle.