Sasikiran sizzles

But C S Gokhale 4, who enhanced his chances of making an IM norm by scoring a sensational win over highly-rated Russian IM Gelba Vladimir in the previous round on Monday, faced a setback as did GM norm holder Abhijit Kunte and National women8217;s champion Vijayalakshmi Subburaman 3.

IMs D V Prasad and R B Ramesh, ex-National champion P Konguvel and V Saravanan all with four points scored quick victories against their lowly rated opponents while Mrunalini Kunte 3 and Pallavi Shah 3 also registered easy wins.

Kasparov widens gap

WIJK AAN ZEE: Chess wizard Garry Kasparov sprinted another distance withan amazing pace, winning the eighth round against Rustam Kasimdhzanov to widen his lead over India8217;s Viswanathan Anand by 1.5 points at the 61st Hoogovens Grandmasters Chess tournament here Monday night.

Russia8217;s Kasparov might simply run away with the title unless World Number 2 Anand turns out something extraordinary in the last stages of the tournament.