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Kasparov moves into sole lead

UNI in Hoogovens Wijk Aan Zee, Netherlands

Riding a favourable wave, world champion Garry Kasparov continued his run of successes with yet another win, to climb to the top of the standings in the Hoogovens Chess Super Grandmaster tournament here.

Kasparov defeated Dmitri Reinderman of the Netherlands while Vishwanathan Anand, joint leader at the end of round four, was held to a draw by Ivan Sokolov of Bosnia.

As the tournament takes its first rest day today, Kasparov leads the 14-player field with 4.5 points, while Anand is second with 4. Four players -- Vesselin Topalov, Alexy Shirov, Vassily Ivanchuk and Vladmir Kramnik -- are at three points each.

Playing black, Kasparov went in for the Sicilian and looked strong soon after the opening. One of the four Netherlands players participating in the tournament, Reinderman, who has lost three of his five games now, made more than a few errors and whatever chances of salvaging a half point he had disappeared after mistakes in the middle game. Mistakes on the 18th, 23rd and 32nd move meant that he was a goner and he resigned after 48 moves.

Kasparov, after his draw with Ivanchuk in the first round, has two games with white -- against Loek Van Wely and Topalov -- and two with black, against Alex Yermolinsky and Dmitri Reinde.

Anand, typical of his style, played sure and fast. But Ivan Sokolov, who had beaten the Indian in blitz, was upto the task. In the game, which was Queen's Gambit Accepted, Solkolov with white was unable to force the pace and find any new winning routes and Anand was well prepared.

It was drawn in 23 moves, with neither player wasting time and effort trying to do anything extra.

For Anand, though a point behind, the big advantage could be that as the tournament rounds into the home stretch, he has games scheduled against weaker players like Alex Yermolinsky (though this player did, in round five, come up with a surprise draw, taking half a point off the higher rated Vassily Ivanchuk).

Topalov had a morale-boosting win over Loek Van Wely, who in fact was guilty of squandering a winning chance himself, allowing Topalov to grab full points in 32 moves of the Svishnikov Variation.

Jan Timman gave the locals something to feel good about by beating the young Uzbek star Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Timman won with black in 43 moves of the English opening.

World no.3 Vladmir Kramnik was held to a draw by Jeroen Piket in a short 26-move game in Qeen's Gambit Declined, while Peter Svidler held Alexi Shirov to a draw in the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian soon after the first time control.