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XX International Chess Tournament |
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A week in Linares, for the strongest classical chess tournament of the year. We have brought you fourteen reports, one on each round, and a number of picture galleries. This year our Spanish speaking reporter Nadja Woisin was in charge of providing the pictures from Linares. Working out of the Hotel Anibal, where all the players were staying, Nadja undertook trips to the surrounding towns of Ubeda and Bailén. There and on the trip back to Madrid she took many pictures of the beautiful southern Spanish countryside.
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On the door of my room in the Anibal hotel I found a name scratched below the room number: IVANCHUK. We must assume that Vassily Ivanchuk had this room in one of the previous tournaments and marked it so he could find it again.
This is the inside of the room with the bed in which Vassily slept
The desk and window, all clean and elegant
And the bathroom, beautifully modernised
The mining tower, symbol of Linares
Frederic Friedel, risking his life for a handfull of pictures
The landscape outside Ubeda, consisting mainly of olive groves to the horizon
Wandering through olive groves
Nadja Wittmann picking an olive from the tree (urged by Frederic)
In one of his reports on Linares my colleague Frederic Friedel wrote: "Southern Spain is the land of olives. When driving to Ubeda or Cazorla you will occasionally see olive groves all the way to the horizon, in every direction. Stop at one of the fields, pluck an olive and bite into the fresh dark fruit. It is an experience you will never forget!"
Okay, so I followed his advice and tried it. (Nowing what would happen, but...)
It is all a cruel trick. Fresh olives off the tree are incredibly, unbelievably bitter. Apparently they have to be treated in brine, before they are suitable for human consumption. Fresh olives also colour your teeth purple. After ten minutes of spitting the taste slowly leaves your mouth. Thanks a lot, Frederic!
Wouldn't you like to live here? A residential part of old Úbeda
A fountain with the ubiquitous orange trees
Frederic Friedel with the editor of the Russian chess magazine "64" Alexander Roshal, one of the most knowledgeable insiders in chess
The historical center of Úbeda
One possible mode of transport in Úbeda: the good old horse carriage
The Town Hall in Bailén. In every Spanish city we visited the town halls had the same banner rejecting a war in Iraq. Apparently the mayors do not share the political views of the Spanish government.
Same thing outside the mayor's office in the Linares Town Hall
On the trip back to Madrid, just before leaving Andalusia, we are treated to some spectacular scenery.
Despeñaperros Restaurant
In this lovely little restaurant tucked on the mountainside you can get delicious "bocadillos", large, submarine-style bread filled with "jamón serrano" (Spanish ham) or "queso manchego" (Sheep milk cheese from Mancha), Anchovies – or all of them together.
The name of the area is Despenaperros, which translates approximately to "where the dogs fall off".
That's where they fall, hundreds of meters down the side of the mountain
Who says only dogs can fall down those cliffs?
Back into our trusty compact and on to Madrid
Olive groves near Puerto Lápice
And some final scenes, approaching the spanish capital
Hills between Ocaña and Arranjuez
See you in Linares next year? You should come along, not just for the chess.
Photos by Nadja Wittmann and Frederic Friedel
