Linares R4: three draws, Topalov and Grischuk lead

Ciudad de Linares 2010

The traditional Linares tournament is taking place in Andalucia, Spain, from February 13 to 24, 2010. It has been shrunk down to six players – in 2009 there were eight, and in previous years there have been up to 14 players. The category this time is 21, with an average Elo of 2757 (and no player below 2700). Time controls as two hours for 40 moves, then one hour for 20, then 20 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30 second increment (starting from move 61).

Round four report

Gelfand,B (2761) - Topalov,V (2805) [E06]
XXVII SuperGM Linares ESP (4), 16.02.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bf4 a5 11.Nc3 Na6 12.Ne5 Bxg2 13.Kxg2 Nd5 14.Rad1 Nab4 15.Bc1 Nxc3 [15...Nb6 16.Qb3 N4d5 17.Nb5 c6 18.Na3 Nb4 19.e4 Nd7 20.Nxd7 (20.Nf3 Qb6 21.h4 Nf6 22.Bg5 h6 23.Nc4 Qd8 24.Bxf6 Bxf6 25.Nce5 Qc7 26.Ng4 Be7 27.Qe3 h5 28.Nge5 Bf6 29.Qe2 g6 30.g4 hxg4 31.Nxg4 Qf4 32.Nxf6+ Qxf6 33.Qe3 Kg7 34.Rh1 Rh8 35.Rh3 1/2-1/2 Gelfand,B (2758)-Ponomariov,R (2739)/Khanty Mansiysk 2009/CB00_2010) 20...Qxd7 21.Nc4 Qd8 22.Be3 b5 23.Ne5 Qc7 24.Nd3 Qb7 25.Nxb4 Bxb4 26.f3 bxa4 27.Qxa4 Qb5 28.Qc2 1/2-1/2 Gelfand,B (2758)-Anand,V (2788)/Moscow 2009/CBM] 16.bxc3 Nd5 17.Qb3 Nb6 18.Ba3 Bxa3 19.Qxa3 Qd6 20.Ra1 f6 21.Nd3 Qxa3 22.Rxa3 Nc4 23.Ra2 e5 24.Nc5 b6 25.Ne4 Rad8 26.Nd2 Nxd2 27.Rxd2 Rd6 28.d5 c6 29.c4 cxd5 30.Rxd5 Rc6 31.Rb1 Rxc4 32.Rxb6 Rxa4 33.Rb7 Kh8 34.Ra7 Ra2 35.e3 a4 36.Rda5 h6 37.Rxa4 Rxa4 38.Rxa4 Kh7 39.g4 Rf7 40.Kg3 Rb7 1/2-1/2. [Click to replay]

Gashimov,V (2759) - Aronian,L (2781) [C88]
XXVII SuperGM Linares ESP (4), 16.02.2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Qd7 11.Nbd2 Rfe8 12.c3 d5 13.Nf1 dxe4 14.dxe4 Qxd1 15.Bxd1 Red8 16.Bc2 Nd7 17.Ne3 f6 18.b4 a5 19.Rb1 axb4 20.cxb4 Nb6 21.Bb3+ Kh8 22.Nd5 Nxd5 23.Bxd5 Rd7 24.Bb2 Nd8 25.Rbd1 c5 26.Bxb7 Rxb7 27.bxc5 Bxc5 28.Rd3 Ne6 29.Rb1 Kg8 30.Kf1 Ra4 31.Nd2 Nf4 32.Rc3 Ba7 33.Bc1 h5 34.h4 Kh7 35.f3 Bd4 36.Rcb3 Rc7 37.g3 Ne6 38.Rxb5 Be3 39.R5b4 Ra6 40.Nb3 Bxc1 41.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 42.Nxc1 Rxa3 43.Nb3 g5 44.hxg5 Nxg5 45.Ke2 Ra2+ 46.Nd2 Nxf3 47.Kxf3 Rxd2 48.Rb8 1/2-1/2. [Click to replay]

Grischuk,A (2736) - Vallejo Pons,F (2705) [D17]
XXVII SuperGM Linares ESP (4), 16.02.2010
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 e6 7.f3 Bb4 8.e4 Bxe4 9.fxe4 Nxe4 10.Bd2 Qxd4 11.Nxe4 Qxe4+ 12.Qe2 Bxd2+ 13.Kxd2 Qd5+ 14.Kc3 0-0 15.Qe3 b5 16.Be2 Nd7 17.Nxd7 Qxd7 18.Qc5 Qd8 19.Kc2 Qf6 [19...Rb8 20.Rad1 Qa5 21.Bxc4 Qxa4+ 22.Bb3 Qe4+ 23.Kc1 Rbd8 24.Qg5 Rxd1+ 1/2-1/2 Sherbakov,R (2555)-Bareev,E (2690)/St Petersburg 1998/CBM] 20.Bf3 Qg6+ 21.Kc1 Rad8 22.axb5 cxb5 23.Rxa7 Qf6 24.Re1 Rc8 25.Qe5 Qh6+ 26.Qe3 Qxh2 27.Rb7 c3 28.bxc3 Qd6 29.Kb2 Ra8 30.Rb1 Qa3+ 31.Kc2 Qa2+ 32.Rb2 Qa4+ 33.Kc1 Qa1+ 34.Kc2 Qa4+ 1/2-1/2. [Click to replay]

Current standings

Statistics Of the 12 games played so far: White won two games = 17% Black won zero games = 0% Games drawn = 83%

Schedule and results

There has been a change in the schedule: in order to avoid Francisco Vallejo from having to play three games with black in succession the rounds four and five have been exchanged.

Live commentary on Playchess

Naturally the games of the Linares tournament are being broadcast live on Playchess. In addition to the moves (and live chat with thousands of other visitors) we also have special audio commentary by two well-known grandmasters:

Schedule of commentators

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!