Adams chess win

Michael Adams improved his position in the Professional Chess Association's world championship qualifier at Groningen, the Netherlands, by beating Ivan Sokolov of Bosnia in the eighth round. With three games left to play, the English grandmaster now shares second place.

Leading scorers: Anand (India) 6; Adams (England), Gulko (USA) and Tiviakov (Russia) 5 1/2 ; Shirov (Latvia), Bareyev (Russia) Belyavsky (Ukraine), Kramnik (Russia), Piket (Netherlands), Kamsky (USA), Kaidanov (USA), Nikolic (Bosnia) and Benjamin (USA) 5.