3rd March, 2003

THERE'S an old adage that you should never write off Garry Kasparov,
and, as if on cue, the world number one came storming back into
contention at Linares with a brace of wins to move to within half a
point of tournament leader Vladimir Kramnik.

Following his disastrous start, Kasparov bounced back with two
consecutive wins, first over FIDE champion Ruslan Ponomariov, the
Ukrainian teenager whom he's set to meet in a $1 million FIDE title
match this Summer, and then world number three Vishy Anand from India,
the player he beat in 1995 to retain the world title.

The two wins move Kasparov into joint second alongside Anand and Leko,
and ominously to within striking distance of arch-rival Kramnik, who
took over the sole lead of the tournament again by virtue of a round six
mauling of Baku teenager Teimour Radjabov. The 'Big Two' are now set to
meet in a round eight showdown in Linares, as Kasparov and Kramnik go
head to head in what could ultimately be the most decisive game of the
tournament.

Kasparov's contention has always been that Linares sorts out just
exactly "who is who" for the year. He has won Linares every year since
1999; tieing for first with Kramnik in 2000, before going on to lose his
world crown to the same player later that year. Now, as the tournament
prepares for the second half as all the players meet again (this time
with opposite colours), Kasparov will need to draw on his vast
experience and resources to attempt three wins in-a-row to overtake his
nemesis.

Standings: 1 V Kramnik (Russia), 4/7; 2-4 G Kasparov (Russia), V Anand
(India), P Leko (Hungary) 3.5; 5 T Radjabov (Azerbaijan) 2.5; 6-7 F
Vallejo Pons (Spain), R Ponomariov (Ukraine) 2.

V Kramnik - T Radjabov
Linares, (6)
French Defence
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7 5 f4 c5 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 Be3 cxd4 8 Nxd4
Bc5 9 Qd2 0-0 10 0-0-0 a6 11 Qf2 Nxd4 12 Bxd4 Qc7 13 Bd3 b5 14 Qh4 h6 15
Ne2 f6 16 Qg4 Bxd4 17 Nxd4 Nc5 18 Qg6 Nxd3+ 19 Rxd3 Qc4 20 Rhd1 Ra7 21
Kb1 Qc7 22 f5 Qb6 23 Rh3 fxe5 24 Rxh6 Rf6 25 Qe8+ Rf8 26 Rh8+ Kxh8 27
Qxf8+ Kh7 28 Nf3 Qc7 29 fxe6 e4 30 Ng5+ Kh6 31 h4 Kh5 32 Qf5 g6 33 g4+
Kxh4 34 Rh1+ Kg3 35 Rg1+ Kh4 36 Qf6 1-0

JOHN B HENDERSON