Chess news

Vladimir Kramnik has raced into the lead in the very strong Wijk aan Zee tournament in the Netherlands, winning his first three games. Scores: Kramnik 3; Anand 21/2; Gelfand and Topalov 2; Adams, Karpov, Polgar, Timman and Nijboer 11/2; Shirov, Salov and van der Sterren 1; Piket and van Wely 1/2.

Michael Adams beat van der Sterren in the first round, then held Karpov to a draw with Black, but was beaten by Kramnik in round three. Karpov, who retained his world title this month, has had three draws.