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Anand held, stays in third place

Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik still lead the table with 5.5 points after the eight rounds in the first Corus Chess tournament, with Vishwanathan Anand and Peter Leko just half a point behind.

Things are not humming for Garry Kasparov. After eight rounds in the 61st and final Hoogovens Tournament last year, the world's strongest player was leading the 14-man field with a near-perfect score of 7½ points. This year, after as many rounds in the first Corus edition of the venerable chess event at Wijk aan Zee, he is on top of the standings too. But his 5½ points and shared first place are below his usual standard.

After coming away with a fortunate draw against Britain's Nigel Short and managing just another half point despite a pawn advantage against India's Anand over the weekend, Kasparov was expected to go all out in his black game against Smbat Lputian of Armenia in Monday's action. The Armenian, promoted to the tournament's premier section after winning the B-Group in 1999, had played Kasparov only three times before in his career. In these games - from the seventies when the two were still youngsters - Lputian never stood as much as a chance.

It was a completely different Lputian, however, who faced Kasparov in the eighth Corus round. Two consecutive victories in the weekend rounds - against Hungary's Judit Polgar with White and Viktor Korchnoi of Switzerland with Black - had clearly boosted his morale. To be sure, he was careful not to overreach himself and stuck to secure positional play, exchanging pieces whenever he could, but his solid strategy paid off.

Kasparov, who chose a Gruenfeld-Indian for his opening, failed to make any headway and offered to sign the peace after only 30 moves. Lputian did not think twice, thus improving the score against his renowned opponent from 0-3 to ½-3½.

Russia's Vladimir Kramnik was lucky to remain alongside Kasparov in pole position. He was pitted against Hungary's Peter Leko in a Sicilian Kan Variation that Dutch commentator Cor van Wijgerden said was "somewhat suspicious for Black".

Kramnik did not improve matters with a premature advance and around the 20th move Van Wijgerden told spectators that Black's position "was about to be demolished". The audience was sorely disappointed when the game ended in a draw at the 21st. Analysis showed that Leko had made a slight, but important mistake.

Much more exciting was the draw produced by Holland's Jeroen Piket and Alexander Morozevich of Russia, a 51-move adventure featuring a fantastic time-trouble duel in which the Dutchman managed more than ten moves in less than one minute to make it to the control.

Also drawn was the encounter between Anand and Holland's Loek van Wely, who came up with an improvement on his pet line of the Sicilian Najdorf that had cost him two defeats with Black in the previous rounds. In the improved version, Van Wely's "Suicide Variation" more than stood the test. Anand settled for the half point at his 31st.

Holland's Jan Timman reached the same result against Korchnoi after 63 moves from a Reversed King's Indian, and the encounter between Dutch champion Predrag Nikolic and Hungary's Judit Polgar - a 72-mover from a King's Indian Defence - also ended peacefully.

The two British representatives at Wijk aan Zee, however, were in a less peaceful mood. Playing Black in a Petroff Defense against Short, Michael Adams sacrificed a pawn and then an exchange to create an attack that forced his opponent to return his material gains. In the end, Adams was a pawn up. He exchanged pieces, won a second pawn and had no trouble winning the ensuing end game.

Standings after 8 rounds: 1. Kasparov, Kramnik 5½
3. Anand, Leko 5
5. Adams, Morozevich, Piket 4½
8. Timman 4
9. Nikolic, Short 3½
11.Korchnoi, Lputian 3
13. Polgar 2½
14. Van Wely 2