GM Anand is now leading the field with two points in this category 18 tournament, which is in all probability the last major tournament before the proposed world championships in Las Vegas early next year.

The Indian chess wizard, who lost of Anatoly Karpov of Russia in the final of the world championship, in which Kramnik did not play, took just 35 moves and less than 45 minutes to defeat the Russian.

Kramnik, playing with black pieces adopted the reliable petroff defence and even sacrificed his bishop. After Gaining a few pieces from Kramnik, Anand himself sacrificed his queen for a rook and went on to win comfortably.

Anand had a rook and two minor pieces against Kramnik’s queen when the match ended.

V Zviaginsev got away with a draw against Peter Leko, who held the advantage but had to split the point as the Hungarian FM Leko had almost no time left on the clock.

Leko played the grunfled defence and dominated the game but could not achieve the full point.

In other positive results, Viktor Korchnoi, the oldest player at 67 years of age, lost to Michael Adams of England, while Peter Svidler trounced J Piket of the Netherlands.

Joel Lautier, who lost the first round to Anand, drew with Loek Van Wely of the Netherlnds in20 moves of a Benko’s Gambit game. (PTI)

Their status as reigning champions has given them a bye to the quarterfinals where they meet New Zealand in the Wills International Cup tomorrow.

Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga was seen marshalling his men at net practice while the Kiwis who won a last ball, gut-wrenching lung opener yesterday decided to take rest today. Ranatunga with stars like Sanath Jayasuriya, Arvinda De Silva and Muthiah Murlitharan —who trampled the english last September with boots of grenadiers —must be feeling like an emperor.

But today he proceeded warily in his predictions while talking to reporters.

A team from a different zone which can play so well in the Subcontinent, can not not be written off or taken lighty even for a moment, he cautioned.

A good idea would be to bat first and chalk up a big score. But it should be more than 260, he said. He felt that the combination has become stronger with the reentry of left-handed seamer Chaminda Vaas who missed a whole session due to a back-shoulder injury.

Still, the bowling fortunes of Sri Lanka has always revolved around their greatest bowler, off-spinner Murlitharan. The Tamilian whose future in the international circuit seemed at stake due to an action controversy has so far captured 135 wickets in one-dayers, bowling a staggering 898.5 overs in 99 matches with a deformed wrist.

He will be celebrating his hundreth match tomorrow.

Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming, who missed his fourth hundred yesterday by four runs, said that his side has a fine record against Sri Lanka of winning 24 matches out of 39. However, he was aware of the recent achievements of the rivals.

"But in a one-day game you have to take a fresh start every time and that’s what happened yesterday," Fleming, savouring New Zealand’s win over Zimbabwe, said.

He also wanted to bat first but found his team comfortable even in a chase for runs. He will naturally prefer the same team while the lankans may overlook the two most experienced players, left-handed batsmen Avishka Gunawardne and left-arm medium pacer Nuwan Zoysa.

The teams:

Sri Lanka: A Ranatunga (captain), R Kaluwitharna (wicket-keeper), S Jayasuriya, A De Silva, R Mahanama, H Tilakratne, K Dharamsena, C Vaas, K Dharamsena, P Wikramsinghe, M Murlitharan, U Chandarana, N Zoysa and A Gunawardane.

New Zealand: S Fleming (Capt), A Parore (W-K), N Astle, C Harris, M Neil, M Bailey, S Doull, D Vettori, A Tait, M Horne, P Wiseman and S O’Conner.

Umpires: D Shepherd (England) and P Willey (Eng), Third umpire: S Venkatraghavan (India), match referee: R Subba Row (Eng). (UNI)

The match was preceded by high drama.

Indian National got a walkover from another local outfit City Club who could not field the full team and conceded the match.

Indian Air Force was to play another local team, Hindustan Club but it also did not turn up and organisers decided to scratch it from the tournament.

As both the matches scheduled for the day failing to materialise, the orginsers then decided to hold the match between Air Force and Indian National today itself. Otherwise this tie was scheduled for tomorrow.

Dharmender Kharola gave Indian National the lead in the 36th minute but R.Gosain drew parity for Air Force in the 67th minute.

Both the teams failed to score after that even in the extra time. Leading to tie breaker.

Sanat Kar, P.S.Negi and K.Rajshekher converted their kicks for Air Force in the shoot-out. Only Ratan and Surinder Bisht could find the targets for the losers. (UNI)

This was Mahindra and Mahindra’s second straight victory and they now face East Bengal in their last league assignment on Tuesday.

East Bengal now have four points from two outings and need a draw to make it to the semis.For Army XI it was their second successive defeat and they are out of contention. PSEB has one point from two outings.

The Mahindra and Army XI match was a lackluster affair with the jeep men having the edge. The match came alive in the last few minutes when off a fine cross from Munawar Hussain, Samshi Raza shot home with a powerful shot.

But all the good work done by Raza was virtually undone by Munawar and R.Pandey in the injury time when they panicked and in the process of foiling army striker Arockia Nathan tripped in the box resulting in a penalty.

However Irupaya Raj’s shot was brilliantly saved by custodian mark to see his team through to the last four stage.

Besides this brief Drama there was hardly any thing worthwhile in the 90 minute encounter.The jeep men had a major share of the ball but they could not translate their domination into goal.

Army XI seemed content in defending their citadel and in between made few forays into the rival territory but without any success. The army men had a chance to take the lead in the 14th minute when Saroj Gurung set up Lal Herit Pui who darted past couple of rival players but his powerful shot hit the right post.

A couple of minutes later Arockia Nathan made an attempted but was foiled by Ramesh and in the process Nathan got injured and had to leave the field. He however returned back soon.

Mahindra forwards kept the pressure on with P.J.Jose, Shamshi Reza and S.Adeshina making some good openings. In the defence their new recruit from Dhaka Munawar Hussain also played his part well.

After the breather Mahindra went on the offensive and had couple of good scoring chances which went abegging. Once in the 61st minute S.Adeshina fumbled near the box and shot wide and then Manjit Singh headed the ball straight to goalkeeper.

L.Andrew made a solo effort but his shot was no where near the target. On the other hand Army XI attack lacked punch and the few attempts they did manage to make were foiled by mark under the bar.

With both the teams failing to break the rival defence till the 88th minute it looked as match was heading for a draw, but then the drama took place in which jeep men managed to score through Samshi Reza and Army XI failed with their penalty and paid the price.

In the first match, Calcutta Super League Champion and 14 time Durand Cup winners East Bengal were held to a goalless draw by robut Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and forced to split points.

Despite being without their seven star players,the Calcutta Club had a clear edge over their rivals and earned as many as 12 flag kicks, seven in first half and five in the next but could not utilise them.

The Bengal Club muffed some good chances as the powermen from Punjab played defensive but hard game.

The match turned out to be a drab affair with East Bengallayers all over their rivals but just could not score.

East Bengal forward line suffered a major blow when in the 42nd minute striker Sreekanta Dutta had to leave the field with eye injury. He suffered the injury when rival defender Dalip Kumar’s elbow hit his eye.

The absence of Sreekanta Dutta, who had scored two goals against Army XI in the first match, was felt acutely in the second session when East Bengal forwards failed to captalise onthe opening they got. Sreekanta Dutta’s replacement Saroj Das a new recruit from Orissa could not fill the gap. Saroj, essentially a mid fielder, fumbled time and again while other striker Bijen Singh kept missing the chances.

The powermen had a good chance toscore in the 12th minute when Ramesh moved up from the Left flank but held on to the ball in an attempt to score the goal. He did not gave pass to any of his team mates and defender Sulley Musah managed to clear the threat. Before Dutta got injured, he had one good chance but he shot straight into the goalkeeper and then Bijan Singh sent the ball over. That was not the end of East Bengal agony because soon after emmanuel opoku missed the target just by whisker.

In the second session Saroj Das made an opening sent a cross to Bijen who failed to tap the ball near the goal

The powermen had another chance to score in the 58th minute when off a Parminder’s flag kick Sandeep Saini’s stinging low shot hit the post and Mahindra defenders cleared the ball.

In the last stages of the match, East Bengal virtually laid seize around the rival defence. In. one-two move emmanuel opoku set up Basudeb Mondal who flicked the ball past onrushing goalkeeper only to see ball hitting the post. Four minutes before the final hooter Rendey Singh made a determined move but was off side though he managed to send the ball into the goal. (UNI)

I haven’t thought about that specifically but obviously there are going to be issues that will be raised and that’s another idea I guess that can go on the table that people can speak about,’’ Mr Ruddock told Australian television.

The red, yellow and black flag was recognised as being Australian, he said.

World 400-metre champion Cathy Freeman received official criticism but widespread public support at the 1994 Commonwealth Games when she paraded with both the Australian and aboriginal flags after winning the 200- and 400-metre events.

Mr Ruddock, who is also the Minister for Reconciliation with Australia’s aborigines, said, obviously if people believe that that will be helpful, I am sure it’s a matter that can be progressed.

Meanwhile, Mr Ruddock said he did not expect Australia would have any problem with making sure that all Olympics visitors go home after the games.

Atlanta did not have a problem with asylum seekers after the 1996 Olympics, he said.

"But we are very conscious in terms of our border control arrangements, we need to be effective in ensuring we manage the entry of people to and from Australia," Mr Ruddock said.

"We have seen a situation in recent years where the numbers of people who are unlawfully in Australia and remain in Australia after their visa might have expired has been largely consistent." (AP)

3rd.

Boys below 13: Kanav Jandyal, Ist and Amitabh Shoor, 2nd.

Boys below 13 in 30 to 36 kg: Varun Salathia, Ist and Chetan Kumar, 2nd.

Boys 13 to 18yrs: Showkat, Ist and Hussain, 2nd.

Boys below 13: Akash Dogra, Ist, Rajan Abrol, 2nd and Mohd Arif Malik, 3rd.

Boys below 13 in 24 to 30 kg: Akash Sharma, Ist, Akhil Pangotra, 2nd and Sourab Salhotra, 3rd.

Boys 13 to 18yrs: Jujhar Singh, Ist, Rajpal Singh, 2nd and Deepak Bhardwaj, 3rd.

Boys 18yrs and above: Mukhtar Ahmed, Ist, Wakar Rasool, 2nd and Vikrant, 3rd.

Boys below 13: Rakesh Kumar, Ist, Abhinandan Mehra, 2nd and Nishard and Rohit Singh share 3rd place.

Six-wicket win over England South Africa into SFs

DHAKA, Oct 25:

South Africa’s three premier batsmen—Hansie Cronje, David Cullinan and Jonty Rhodes—steered their team into the semi-finals of the Wills International Cup with a comfortable six-wicket win over England at the Bangabandhu stadium here today.

South Africans were given a target of 282 with a strike rate of 5.7 and it was achieved in the 47th over with 20 balls to spare. England after winning the toss had made 281 for seven.

Rhodes stayed till the end with an unbeaten score of 61 studded with eight fours off 63 balls and featured in a stand of 117 off 16.5 overs for the fourth wicket with skipper Cronje who played a stellar knock 67 off just 56 balls.

Berkenstein finished off the match with a four on the on-side off England captain Adam Hollioake. It was a sad end for the British captain who had revived his side from a slump with a superlative career best unbeaten 83.

Hollioake’s and Neil Fairbrother’s sixth wicket stand for 112 enabled England to bounce back from 95 for five.

Ally Brown made 44.

However, South Africa had a terrific start of 113 off 19.2 overs with Darryl Cullinan making an imperious 69 off 70 balls helped the team with 13 boundaries.

His opening partner Mike Rindell made 41. Cronje opened at the right time plundering his last 27 off 15 balls. He smashed five fours and two sixes off leg spinner Ashley Giles.

However, the man of the match award went to Cullinan who gave his team a launching pad.

Final scoreboard of the Wills International Cup one-day match between England and South Africa played in Dhaka today :

England:

Nick Knight c Boucher b Kallis 32

Alistair Brown c Kallis b Symcox 6

Mark Ealham c Rhodes b Kallis 44

Graeme Hick lbw Kallis 2

Neil Fairbrother b Rindel 56

Graham Lloyd lbw Boje 0

Adam Holliaoke not out 83

Jack Russell c Benkenstein b Dawson 19

Ashley Giles not out 5

Extras 34 (b3, lb19, w9, nb3)

Total : 281 for 7 wickets in 50 overs

Fall of wickets : 1-14, 2-80, 3-93, 4-94, 5-95, 6-207, 7-256

Bowling :

A Dawson 9-0-51-1

P. Symcox 10-0-45-1

J. Kallis 10-0-48-3

N. Boje 10-0-39-1

H Cronje 3-0-19-0

D. Crookes 3-0-20-0

M. Rindell 5-0-37-1.

South Africa:

D. Cullinan c Fairbrother b Hick 69

M. Rindel c a. Brown b Giles 41

J. Kallis run out 14

H. Cronje c a. Brown b Hollioake 67

J. Rhodes not out 61

D. Benkenstein not out 13

Extras 18 (b1, lb8, w7, nb2)

Total : 283 for 4 wickets in 46.4 overs

Fall of wickets : 1-113, 2-124, 3-135, 4-252

Bowling:

Peter Martin 8-0-55-0

Ian Austin 9-0-53-0

Mark Ealham 7-0-51-0

Ashley Giles 10-1-41-1

Graeme Hick 7-0-28-1

Adam Hollioake 4.4-0-41-1

Alistair Brown 1-0-5-0

Result : South Africa won by six wickets. (UNI)