INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Viswanathan Anand of India won the Credit Suisse tournament in Biel, Switzerland, ahead of former world champion Anatoly Karpov of Russia. Anand, the most consistent of the contenders for world champion Garry Kasparov’s title, won five games in the double round robin for a total of 7-3. Karpov finished second at 6 1/2-3 1/2.

Anand led throughout the tournament, although his only loss (to Vadim Milov in the seventh round) allowed Karpov to catch him at 5-2. In the next round, Joel Lautier upset Karpov, and Anand coasted to first place.

Other scores: GM Boris Gelfand (Belarus), 5 1/2-4 1/2; GM Lautier (France), 4 1/2-5 1/2; GM Milov (Switzerland), 4-6; and IM Yannick Pelletier (Switzerland), 2 1/2-7 1/2.

In the last round, Karpov, trailing by a half-point, played Black against Anand and agreed to a draw in only 11 moves. A younger Karpov would never have conceded first place so easily. But Karpov, now 46, seems to recognize that he has been passed by Anand, 27, and Vladimir Kramnik, 22.

Both the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and Professional Chess Assn. (PCA) rating systems offer more evidence of the changing of the guard. Both systems rank Kramnik second in the world, an insignificant margin ahead of Anand. Karpov has dropped into a tie for fourth with 22-year-old Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria on the FIDE list, and into a tie for fifth (with 28-year-old Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and behind Topalov) on the PCA list.

LOCAL NEWS

The 1997 SPACC Summer Scholastic, a tournament for students in grades K-12, takes place Aug. 16 at St. Paul the Apostle School, 1536 Selby Ave. in Westwood. Register at the site at 8:30 a.m., or call Richard Rico at (310) 475-5551.

The SPA chess program also plans a chess workshop with instructor John Surlow from 9 a.m. to noon on Aug. 19, 20 and 21. Students may attend one, two or three days.

The Wilshire Chess Society will conduct a three-round tournament of 45-minute games on Aug. 24 in the Community Room (third floor, near the food court) of the Westside Pavilion in Los Angeles. Registration opens at 10 a.m. For more information, call Michael Jeffreys at (310) 473-6291.