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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
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
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
