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Kasparov wins Hoogovens tournament

Garry Kasparov, making his maiden appearance in the annual Hoogovens chess tournament, won the title with a draw with black against fellow Russian grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik in the final round. It sufficed to put the world champion beyond the reach of Vishwanathan Anand, his nearest rival in the field of fourteen in the year's super GM tournament. The Indian managed a victory over Bulgaria's Veselin Topalov in the final round but his final score of 9.5 points while Kasparov had ten points.

The world champion, who suffered a stunning ninth round defeat, chalked up eight wins, while losing one game and drawing four in the course of the event, but felt that despite the one blemish on his track record, "this was by far the best tournament in my life". Anand had six wins and seven draws.

Kasparov, who became the sole leader after the fifth round, extended his lead to a full point after the sixth round and it became 1.5 points after the eighth round. But a loss in the ninth opened up the tournament once again.

Anand may have failed to win the title, but he was still the favourite with the crowd which gave him the last day's best game award for his win over Topalov. In the Sicilian game that had many ups and downs, Anand missed a good move to take control in the early part and then followed a mistake by Topalov just as the game seemed heading for a draw. Topalov resigned after 41 moves and the win got Anand another 500 guilders as the daily prize.

Kasparov was clearly looking for a draw though both he and Kramnik tried something new. Their Meran variation in which Kramnik had black, lasted 28 moves. Then, with the draw, Kasparov celebrated his success with one of the biggest press conferences he has given. He spoke of a possibility of an event with Anand later and said it was now clear who his best challenger should be. He said Anand had won all events he (Kasparov) had not played. So it was clear who the world's two best players were.

Kramnik who did not have a great tournament, fell ill in the closing stages and finished third, which was in keeping with his seeding and rating. He had eight points, 1.5 points less than Anand. More worrying for him was the fact that he managed only three wins and had 10 draws.

Holland's Jan Timman, who played superbly in some game, scored a good win over American Alex Yermolinsky for the only other positive result of the last round.

The other games in the final round were all drawn. The lowly-rated Dimitri Reinderman held Ivansokolov while Alexei Shirov and Vassily Ivanchuk played out a draw in the Sicilian dragon. Peter Svidler, who had a total of 11 draws, the highest in the tournament, had one more than Loek van Wely; and Rustam Kasimdzhanov split the point with Jeroen Piket.

Results of the 13th round:
V Anand beat V Topalov; V Kramnik drew with G Kasparov; I Sokolov drew with D Reinderman; A Shirov drew with V Ivanchuk, J Timman beat A Yermolinsky; P Svidler drew with Loek van Wely, R Kasimdzhanov drew with J Piket.

Final standings:
Kasparov 10; V Anand 9.5; Kramnik Russia 8.0; Sokolov 8.0, Piket Ned 8.0, Shirov 8.0, Timman 7.0; Ivanchuk, Svidler 6.5; Topalov 6.0; Kasimdzhanov 5.0; van Wely 4.5; Yermolinsky 4.0; Reinderman 3.0.