

The closing ceremony

Flamenco, heavy shoes, castañuelas – the closing ceremony of
the XXIV
Torneo Intercontinental de Ajedrez beings in traditional Spanish style

The president of FIDE, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, has flown in and addresses the audience;
his remarks are translated by our own Pilar Molina of chatting-with-Aruna fame.

Levon Aronian and Vishy Anand picking up their prizes

Watch for the kid – Magnus Carlsen, the sensation of this Super-GM tournament

Posing with the President, who knows a winner when he sees one

Veselin Topalov gets a consolation prize

Anand gets the special first prize from Linares Mayor Juan Fernández

All the players with their prizes. By now you should know: Aronian, Topalov,
Svidler, Anand, Morozevich, Ivanchuk, Leko and Carlsen
Svidler, Morozevich, Ivanchuk and Anand with Juan Fernández and Ilyumzhinov

The closing ceremony ends on a traditionally festive note
Videos
The Grand Slam
Linare also hosted a meeting and press conference of the Grand
Slam Chess Association (GSCA), which was established today in Wijk aan Zee
earlier this year. It sets up a classical chess circuit with three major tournaments
participating: the Corus tournament (in Wijk aan Zee), Linares, Sofia. The winners
of these events in 2008 and a fourth player to be determined will play a Masters
tournament in Bilbao (Autumn 2008).

Grand Slam conference in Linares

Press conference with Andoni Madariaga, representative of Bilbao, Juan Fernández,
representative of Linares, and Silvio Danailov, representative of Sofía

Standing: Dolf Vos, President of the Corus Wijk aan Zee tournament, Juan Carlos
Fernández, Organisor from Bilbao, Theo Hoogland of the Organisation Committee
of the event. Seated: Andoni Madariaga, (Bilbao), Juan Fernández (Linares),
Jeroen van den Berg, director of Wijk aan Zee, and Silvio Danailov.

Silvio Danailov, manager of Veselin Topalov and initiator of the Grand Slam

Agreement on all sides on the format and organisation of the Grand Prix
The street simul display
On the second rest day of the event Veselin Topalov and Vishy Anand gave a
simultaneous display with giant chess pieces in the pedestrian zone of Linares.

Anand preparing for an unusual simultaneous in downtown Linares

The setup, with Topalov and Anand taking on four boards each

Simultaneous chess on a bigger scale than we have ever seen before

The trick, Veselin discovers, is to go for small, energy-saving pawn pushes

Spotted in the audience: the originator of the "Ciudad de Linares"
tournament and owner of the Anibal Hotel Luis Rentero

Dusk in Linares, a mining city that has become a world-famous chess venue

A fond farewell with a "see you next year" to all chess fans
All pictures and videos by Nadja Woisin
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