Games chess

Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik shared first place in Wijk aan Zee, confirming their positions as the men most likely to unseat Garry Kasparov as the world's number one player. England's Michael Adams had an excellent result to share third place.

Full scores: Anand and Kramnik 81/2; Adams, Shirov and Timman 71/2; Karpov, Gelfand, Piket, Polgar and Topalov 61/2; Salov 51/2; Nijboer 5; van Wely 41/2; van der Sterren 4.

Anand's only loss was to Judit Polgar. Kramnik had a more uneven tournament, starting with four wins, then falling back after two defeats by Shirov and van Wely, but catching up with two wins at the end. Adams scored one draw and three losses against the leaders, but was ruthless against the bottom-markers, winning all four games against the tail-enders. More from Wijk tomorrow.