China wins superpowers battle

Position No. 6023: White to play and win. From the game Emanuel Berg-Jovanka Houska, Liverpool 2008.

Solution to Position No. 6022: Black wins with 1 . . . Qd4+ 2 Kh1 Rf5! 3 Rxf5 Qxf6, as 4 Rxf6 permits 4 . . . Rb1+. Or, if 3 Qxd4, then 3 . . . Rxf1+ 4 Qg1 Rbb1 forces mate.

China defeated Russia in a match between chess superpowers. The 10-board encounter ended Sept. 27 in Ningpo, China.

Surprisingly, China built its margin of victory from its men's 14 1/2 -10 1/2 record against the Russian men. The Chinese women, world leaders for more than a decade, lost, 11 1/2 -13 1/2 , to an improving young Russian squad.

Part of the explanation is that the top three Russian men and the top two Chinese women did not participate. However, 19-year-old Shen Yang, rated next to last of the five Chinese women, turned in the best individual result, 4-1.

The match concluded with rapid (25-minute) and blitz (three-minute) games. The Russian men won, 13-7, in rapid play but lost, 6-14, in blitz. The women tied, 10-10, in rapid play, and the Russian women won, 11-9, in blitz.

Local news

Chess Palace, 12872 Valley View Drive in Garden Grove, celebrates its 18th anniversary today with a five-round tournament of 30-minute games and a party with free snacks.

The Westwood Fall Open, a five-round tournament of 40-minute games, takes place next Sunday at the L.A. Chess Club, 11514 Santa Monica Blvd. in Los Angeles. John Hillery will direct. Information and online entries are available at westernchess.com.

Chris Roberts won the Undisputed Chess Championship of the Universe. He earned the magnificent title by defeating Craig Faber (who matched his 5-1 score) in the Supernova section of the 42-player La Palma Chess Club tournament. Christopher Kao led the Black Hole section for those rated under 1650. For information about the club, which meets Friday evenings, see lapalmachess.741.com.

Aaron Householder, Evan Anthopoulos, Sebastien Whetsel, Abraham Niu, Anna Qiu, Alfred Zhang, Justin Yang and Gore Badikyan led their sections in the Fall Quads, a 34-player tournament at Diversity Educational Center in Arcadia. For the club's schedule, visit diversityeducationalcenter.com.

The Santa Monica Bay Chess Club will begin a four-round tournament at 7 p.m. Monday in St. Andrew's Church, 11555 National Blvd. in Los Angeles. For details, call Pete Savino at (310) 827-2789.