Home favourite Jan Timman had to share the honours with Judit Polgar at the VAM Invitational, after losing to tail-ender Darmen Sadvakasov in the sixth and final round. 

Judit Polgar caught the Dutchman at the finish-line by making a draw with the white pieces against former World Champion Anatoly Karpov.

This must have been a minor disappointment for local fans, since Timman had been leading this premier event for five rounds. All he had to do to clinch clear first was to make a draw with white in the last round against Sadvakasov, who thus far had failed to win a single game. 

In chess, however, playing for a draw can be a dangerous endeavour (even with white!), and Timman soon found himself in a heap of trouble:

Judit Polgar, the strongest female player ever, is probably quite happy with her performance, even though she failed to win rating points in this event. Her game has not been up to par as of late, but she now seems to be back on track.

Karpov's result was nothing to write home about, and it's becoming increasingly clear that the ex-champ no longer has what it takes to maintain a spot in the World Top-10.

World Junior Champion Darmen Sadvakasov still has a long way to go before he can make any serious trouble for the "big boys", but he did show that he's already capable of taking them down on the odd occasion.

The Open section was won by Mikhail Gurevich of Belgium on tie-break ahead of Alexander Berelovich, Ukraine, Leonid Gofshtein, Israel, Sergei Tiviakov, Russia and Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Uzbekistan.

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- Einar Gausel