Linares Round 1: Topalov draws first blood

The XXII Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez "Ciudad de Linares", a category 20 double round robin, is being held in the Spanish town of Linares and from February 23 until March 10 2005. During each round one player rests, and in addition there are full rest days on March 1st and 7th. The games start at 15:30h local time (CET = GMT 14:30h = 9:30 a.m. NY) in the Hotel Anibal. Live coverage of the event is expected on the official web site and on Playchess.com. We will be reporting daily on our news page.

Round one

Leko,P (2749) - Kasparov,G (2804) [B90]
XXII SuperGM Linares ESP (1), 23.02.2005
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e6 7.Be3 b5 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.g4 Nb6 10.a4 Nc4 11.Bxc4 bxc4 12.a5 Bb7 13.Na4 Rc8 14.Qc3 Nd7 15.0-0-0 Be7 16.h4 Bxh4 17.Ne2 Bf6 18.Bd4 e5 19.Be3 Be7 20.Kb1 Qc7 21.Nb6 Nxb6 22.axb6 Qd7 23.Rh5 f6 24.Ng3 g6 25.Rh2 0-0 26.Rhd2 ½-½

Spectators on the Playchess.com server – over a thousand strong – had been following this game with keen excitement. GM Yasser Seirawan was full of anticipation that it would be a deep and exciting struggle, but just as he was working on the most promising lines for Kasparov (Black is a pawn up) suddenly the draw symbol flashed up on the screen.

Nigel Short, watching the game from his home in Greece, was stunned. "I don't understand," he said, "the position has a lot of play in it. Either Black is better because he is a pawn up, or White has very good compensation. This has to be played out. The only reason I can think of is that both players were afraid. Now Kasimdzhanov vs Vallejo was a draw, a proper, solid, well-engineered draw. This I can understand. But but this game... Shirov once explained to me that there are draws which nobody understands, including the two player at the board. Even if we assume that the position is a perfect draw, it had dynamic equality. Still, it has not been played out. There is not a draw in sight. It is just a position that ends prematurely, a game which stops for no reason. It is a ludus interruptus, a prematurely terminated game." You could feel the deeply disappointed of someone who had been enjoying this encounter and looking for an exciting continuation.

The other game that was at the focus of attention was the Topalov vs Adams, which for a while looked like a black win for the top British GM. But then things went badly astray for Mickey Adams.

Topalov,V (2757) - Adams,Mi (2741) [E37]
XXII SuperGM Linares ESP (1), 23.02.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 Ne4 7.Qc2 e5 8.e3 exd4 9.cxd5 Qxd5 10.Nf3 Nd6 11.Nxd4 Bd7 12.f3 Nc6 13.Nxc6 Bxc6 14.a4 Qh5 15.Be2 Qh4+ 16.g3 Qh3 17.Kf2 0-0-0 18.Ra3 Rhe8 19.Bf1 Qe6 20.Be2 g5 21.Rf1 g4 22.fxg4 Qh6 23.Kg1 Qh3 24.Bd3 Ne4 25.Rf4 Nxg3 26.Rc3. Until now it was Black, if anyone, who has been pushing for a win.

With his last move White is threatening 27.Rxc6 bxc6 28.Ba6+ Kd7 (28...Kb8 29.Qb3+ Ka8 30.Qb7#) 29.Rxf7+ Ke6 30.Bc4+ Rd5 31.Qf2 (threat: Qf6#) Kd6 32.Bxd5 cxd5 33.Qf4+ and mate to follow. The defence to this threat was 26...Rxd3 27.Rxd3 Rg8, but Adams chose 26...Re6?? with fatal consequences: 27.e4! (threatening simply 28.Bf1 Qh6 29.Rxg3) 27...Nh5 28.Bc4 Qh4 29.Bxe6+ fxe6 30.gxh5 Qxh5 31.Rd3 and Black is a rook down. Adams struggled on for a while, probably out of deep disappointment: 31...Rg8+ 32.Rg3 Rd8 33.Be3 e5 34.Rf1 h6 35.b4 a6 36.b5 axb5 37.axb5 Bxb5 38.Rg7 c6

This allows a forced mate: 39.Qa2 Ba6 40.Qe6+ Kb8 41.Qd6+! and Black resigned because of 41...Rxd6 42.Rf8+ Qe8 43.Rxe8+ Rd8 44.Rxd8 mate. 1-0.

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Photos by Jesús J. Boyero

Schedule

Links

• Official web site
• ChessBase reports on Linares 2004
• ChessBase reports on Linares 2003