Lin and Kernighan constructed an algorithm make ing it possible to get within 2% of the Held-Karp lower bound. The Lin-Kernighan algorithm (LK) is a vari- able k-opt algorithm. It decides which k is the most suitable at each iteration step. This makes the algo rithm quite complex, and few have been able to make improvements to it. For a more in-depth study of the LK algorithm and possible improvements, see 5 The time complexity of LK is approximately O(m2.2) 5], making it slower than a simple 2-opt implementa tion. However the results are much better with LK and given improvements suggested by Helsgaun (5, it will probably not be that much slower