Chess

Just as Garry Kasparov seemed to be running away with the Tilburg tournament, he lost to Peter Svidler. Then, when the event looked wide open again, his rivals faltered and Kasparov rushed back into the lead.

The main event of the seventh round was Kasparov's defeat. Svidler by- passed all of Kasparov's opening preparation by playing 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3!? Nf6 4.Be2, then outplayed the champion in the middle-game. Full moves tomorrow. That left Svidler and Kasparov sharing the lead, half a point ahead of Kramnik. In round eight, Kasparov demolished Piket while his rivals both drew. Scores are now: Kasparov 61/2; Svidler 6; Kramnik 51/2; Adams 5; Leko 41/2; Polgar 4; Shirov, Onischuk, Lautier and van Wely 31/2; Piket 2; Shaked 1/2.

Kasparov's win against Piket bore all the hallmarks of a man furious at having lost the previous day. He attacked from the start, sacrificing a pawn to gain the initiative, then applied the final strain with 25.a5! After 25...Nxa5 26.h5, Black no longer has the defence of Nxe5, while 25...Qxa5 left Black unable to meet 27.Qxg6+ with Rg7 because of 28.Qe8+ winning the knight on c6. At the end, 30...Ke8 31.e6 Bxc6 32.exf7+ wins easily for White.

White: Garry Kasparov

Black: Jeroen Piket

1 d4 d5 16 Nfd2 0-0

2 c4 dxc4 17 Ne4 Be7

3 e3 Nf6 18 Bg3 Qd8

4 Bxc4 e6 19 Ncd6 Na5

5 Nf3 c5 20 Bc2 b3

6 0-0 a6 21 Bb1 Qb6

7 Bb3 b5 22 Qd3 g6

8 a4 b4 23 Nc5 Bc8

9 Nbd2 Bb7 24 h4 Nc6

10 e4 cxd4 25 a5 Qxa5

11 e5 Nd5 26 Nxf7 Rxf7

12 Nc4 Nc6 27 Qxg6+ Kf8

13 Bg5 Qd7 28 Nxe6+ Bxe6

14 Rc1 h6 29 Rxc6 Bd7

15 Bh4 Bc5 30 Qxh6+ resigns