Leko, Kramnik share honors

Grandmaster Peter Leko has won the Category 20 elite tournament in Linares, Spain, on tie-breaks over Russian world champion Vladimir Kramnik, the biggest triumph in the young Hungarian's career. The seven-player field included two former titleholders — Russian Garry Kasparov and Indian Viswanathan Anand — and the current holder of the FIDE world-title crown, Ukraine's Ruslan Ponomariov. Kasparov and Anand finished a half-point behind the winners, and Ponomariov was alone in fifth after a rough start. This year's edition of the famous tournament marked the first time in 10 consecutive elite events that Kasparov has failed either to win outright or to share equal first, an incredible streak given the world-class competition he routinely faced. The full Linares score card: Leko, Kramnik 7-5; Kasparov, Anand 6½-5½; Ponomariov 5 ½-6½; Francisco Vallejo Pons (Spain) 5-7; and Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) 4½-7½. The tournament turned on some shaky endgame technique by Anand, who dropped a drawn ending to Kasparov in Round 7 and then did the same thing in a pivotal game against Leko in the penultimate round.