International Master Sasikiran captured two pawns against Garcia early in the game yesterday and then easily converted the advantage into a fine win with white pieces.

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 women'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 India's Viswanathan Anand by 1.5 points at the 61st Hoogovens Grandmasters Chess tournament here Monday night.

Russia'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.