SPANISH CHESS EXPERTS POINT TO KASPAROV'S BRILLIANT WIN AT LINARES TOURNAMENT








MADRID, March 8, 2001. /RIA Novosti correspondent Juan Cobo/. Spain has highly appraised Garri Kasparov's victory at the Linares tournament in the wake of a recent series of failures but they are always surprised by the champion's extravagant behaviour.


	The well-known chess commentator Leoncho Garcia from the newspaper El Pais notes that at the prestigious tournament in Andalusia, which the Spanish are very proud of, the "man-eater from Baku", as Kasparov is jokingly called in Spain, has set a record. He gained first place being 3 points ahead of all his remaining rivals. Before that Anatoly Karpov had been 2.5 points ahead of his challengers in Linares in 1994.


	At the same time, all media point to escapades of Kasparov, who constantly demanded removal of journalists from the hall and threw tantrums when the tournament sponsors refused to be led by him. Another source of surprise was that Kasparov was refusing to visit the men's room for fear of meeting autograph hunters there and used a room for ladies specially set for Judit Polgar, the only woman who was men's equal and successfully played in this tournament.


	Chess commentators also note that "the man-eater from Baku" had altered his habits: while earlier a few minutes before the game he used to eat a large slice of sirloin "like a gladiator before a difficult fight", now, under the watchful eye of his mother Klara, he eats nothing but fish, salad and fruits.