![](/portals/all/_for_legal_reasons.jpg)
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 covereag of the event is expected on the official
web site and on Playchess.com. We
will be reporting daily on our news page.
Round three
The key game today was between local hero Francisco ("Paco") Vallejo
Pons and the so far luckless top seed Garry Kasparov. As in his first two games
Kasparov quickly went on the offensive ("equalize with black" does
not seem to be part of his vocabulary) and was working with two bishops against
his opponent's rook and knight when fate struck.
![](/portals/all/_for_legal_reasons.jpg)
Vallejo Pons,F (2686) - Kasparov,G (2804) [D02]
XXII SuperGM Linares ESP (3), 25.02.2005
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 e6 3.c4 dxc4 4.e4 b5 5.a4 c6 6.axb5 cxb5 7.b3 Bb7 8.bxc4
Bxe4 9.cxb5 Nf6 10.Be2 Be7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Nc3 Bb7 13.Bf4 Bb4 14.Na4 Nbd7 15.Qb3
Nd5 16.Bg5 Be7 17.Bd2 a6 18.b6 Bc6 19.Ne5 Nxe5 20.dxe5 Nxb6 21.Nxb6 Qxd2 22.Nxa8
Qxe2 23.Nc7 Qxe5 24.Qg3 Qf5 25.Rxa6 Be4 26.Ra7 Bc5
If you count material White has a rook and knight for two bishops and a pawn.
Black is on the attack, but it is not clear how he intends to win – apart
from making life as complicated as possible for his opponent. And after this
attack on his rook Paco Vallejo promply goes astray: 27.Ra5?
Just one step further, 27.Ra4, would have probably held the draw, but this
"pin" is disastrous for the player delivering it. 27...Bxf2+
28.Qxf2 Qxa5 and Black is simply two pawns up. Vallejo tries one more
trick: 29.Nxe6.
Now Black cannot capture the knight (29...fxe6?? 30.Qxf8 mate), but he has
a resource that Vallejo possibly overlooked when he played 27.Ra5. If you cannot
see the move, with which Kasparov immediately ended the game, you can look
it up in the game replay below.
![](/portals/all/_for_legal_reasons.jpg)
Anand with black equalised and, around move 20, looked as though he was seeking
revenge for the loss he had suffered to Leko in Wijk aan Zee. But the advantage
was probably only optical and Anand quickly liquidated to a repetition and
a draw in 24 moves.
![](/portals/all/_for_legal_reasons.jpg)
FIDE champion rustam Kasimdzhanov and top British GM Michael Adams produced
a fairly unentful draw in 27 moves.
![](/portals/all/_for_legal_reasons.jpg)
Kasimdzhanov's second: German GM Dr Robert Hübner –
all photos by Jesús J. Boyero
Round 3 (Friday, February
25, 2005) |
Peter Leko |
½-½ |
Viswanathan Anand |
Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
½-½ |
Michael Adams |
Francisco Vallejo |
0-1 |
Garry Kasparov |
|
|
Round 4 (Saturday, February
26, 2005) |
Michael Adams |
|
Francisco Vallejo |
Viswanathan Anand |
|
Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
Veselin Topalov |
|
Peter Leko |
Games – Report |
|
Current standing
|
Scores
Anand |
+1 |
Kasparov |
+1 |
Topalov |
0 |
Leko |
0 |
Kasimdzhanov |
0 |
Vallejo |
–1 |
Adams |
–1 |
|
Schedule
Round 1 (Wednesday, February
23, 2005) |
Veselin Topalov |
1-0 |
Michael Adams |
Peter Leko |
½-½ |
Garry Kasparov |
Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
½-½ |
Francisco Vallejo |
|
|
Round 2 (Thursday,
February 24, 2005) |
Garry Kasparov |
½-½ |
Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
Michael Adams |
½-½ |
Peter Leko |
Viswanathan Anand |
1-0 |
Veselin Topalov |
|
|
Round 3 (Friday, February
25, 2005) |
Peter Leko |
½-½ |
Viswanathan Anand |
Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
½-½ |
Michael Adams |
Francisco Vallejo |
0-1 |
Garry Kasparov |
Games – Report |
|
Round 4
(Saturday, February 26, 2005) |
Michael Adams |
|
Francisco Vallejo |
Viswanathan Anand |
|
Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
Veselin Topalov |
|
Peter Leko |
Games
– Report |
|
Round 5
(Sunday, February 27, 2005) |
Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
|
Veselin Topalov |
Francisco Vallejo |
|
Viswanathan Anand |
Garry Kasparov |
|
Michael Adams |
Games
– Report |
|
Round 6
(Monday, February 28, 2005) |
Garry Kasparov |
|
Viswanathan Anand |
Veselin Topalov |
|
Francisco Vallejo |
Peter Leko |
|
Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
Games
– Report |
|
Round 7
(Wednesday, March 2, 2005) |
Francisco Vallejo |
|
Peter Leko |
Garry Kasparov |
|
Veselin Topalov |
Michael Adams |
|
Viswanathan Anand |
Games
– Report |
|
Round 8
(Thursday, March 3, 2005) |
Michael Adams |
|
Veselin Topalov |
Garry Kasparov |
|
Peter Leko |
Francisco Vallejo |
|
Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
Games
– Report |
|
Round 9
(Friday, March 4, 2005) |
Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
|
Garry Kasparov |
Peter Leko |
|
Michael Adams |
Veselin Topalov |
|
Viswanathan Anand |
Games
– Report |
|
Round 10
(Saturday, March 5, 2005) |
Viswanathan Anand |
|
Peter Leko |
Michael Adams |
|
Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
Garry Kasparov |
|
Francisco Vallejo |
Games
– Report |
|
Round 11
(Sunday, March 6, 2005) |
Francisco Vallejo |
|
Michael Adams |
Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
|
Viswanathan Anand |
Peter Leko |
|
Veselin Topalov |
Games
– Report |
|
Round 12
(Tuesday, March 8, 2005) |
Veselin Topalov |
|
Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
Viswanathan Anand |
|
Francisco Vallejo |
Michael Adams |
|
Garry Kasparov |
Games
– Report |
|
Round 13
(Wednesday, March 9, 2005) |
Viswanathan Anand |
|
Garry Kasparov |
Francisco Vallejo |
|
Veselin Topalov |
Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
|
Peter Leko |
Games
– Report |
|
Round 14
(Thursday, March 10, 2005) |
Peter Leko |
|
Francisco Vallejo |
Veselin Topalov |
|
Garry Kasparov |
Viswanathan Anand |
|
Michael Adams |
Games
– Report |
|
Links