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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 eight report
By GM Anish Giri
Round 8: Sunday, 21 February 2010 |
Veselin Topalov |
½-½ |
Levon Aronian |
Francisco Vallejo |
½-½ |
Boris Gelfand |
Alexander Grischuk |
1-0 |
Vugar Gashimov |
|

Today there were two exciting games – and one Petroff. Gelfand, who played
the latter, had no problems in achieving equality.

Israeli GM Boris Gelfand

Top Spanish GM Francisco Vallejo Pons
Vallejo tried the somewhat rare 8.Nbd2, but Gelfand quickly exchanged everything
and the game ended in a colorless draw. The other two games however were way
more entartaining.

Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov

GM Levon Aronian from Armenia
V. Topalov - L. Aronian [D43]
XXVII Linares/Spain (8), 21.02.2010 [Giri,Anish]
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6. Topalov decided
not to go to the razor-sharp Anti-Moscow Gambit, which arises after 6.Bh4. 6...Qxf6
7.e3 Nd7 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 g6 10.0-0 Bg7 11.e4 e5 12.d5 Nb6
13.Bb3. Here we get one of the main lines of the Moscow Variation.
13...0-0. 13...Bg4 is another main move. After something like 14.Rc1
0-0 15.h3 Bxf3 16.Qxf3 Qxf3 17.gxf3 Rfd8 18.dxc6 bxc6 we get a more pleasant
endgame for White. Recently Aronian won this endgame with white against Gelfand.
14.Rc1 Rd8 15.h3! A strong and logical novelty. 15.Qe2 was played
before. Recently 15...Bg4 happened in Bacrot-Aronian Jermuk 2009. 15...Bd7
16.Qe2 Be8 17.Rfd1 Bf8?! An innacuracy. 17...Rac8! was better, first
improving the rook. The bishop can be developed a bit later. 18.dxc6!
18...Bxc6. 18...Rxd1+ was not the solution to all problems either:
19.Rxd1 Bxc6 20.Nd5 Bxd5 21.Bxd5! and White is better. 19.Nd5 Bxd5 20.exd5!
Bd6 21.Nd2 Qe7 22.Ne4 Kg7 [22...Rac8!] 23.Re1 Re8. 23...Bb4 was
possible, but after 24.d6! Bxd6 25.Nxd6 Rxd6 26.Qxe5+ Qxe5 27.Rxe5 White gets
a better ending, thanks to his bishop against Black's knight. 24.h4!
A strong idea by Topalov. Now White wants to weaken some squares around Aronian's
king. 24...Rad8? 24...h5! was much better. I guess Levon didn't like
that from now on Black wouldn't be able to play f5 (due to Ng5). But perhaps
he can just play Rac8, change some rooks and hold the position. 25.h5 f5
26.Nxd6 Rxd6 27.Rc5 e4 28.hxg6
Now White is better, and Levon's agressive try 28...f4? only makes
things worse. 28...Kxg6 was better.] 29.Qd2 Qe5 30.Rc7+ Rd7 31.Rxd7+
Nxd7 32.Ba4 Rd8 33.Qa5! Now White is simply winning. 33...Nb6. Hoping
that opponent doesn't see an easy winning trick...
34.Bb3?? And he doesn't! 34.Rxe4! was a simple BAM, that a
player with 2800 can normally find in couple of seconds. 34...Qxe4 35.Qc3+ Kg8
36.Qc7 and White threatens Qh7+ and Qxd8, so the game could have finished like
this. 34...e3. Now Black get's counterplay and easily manages to make
a draw. 35.fxe3 fxe3 36.Qb4 Rd6 37.Re2 Rxg6 38.Qc3 Qxc3 39.bxc3 Rg5 40.Rxe3
Nxd5 41.Bxd5 Rxd5 42.Re7+ Kf6 43.Rxb7 Ra5 44.Rb2
White's pawn is not enough for anything, due to Black's activity and White's
passivity. Topalov played the game pretty well and he quickly got a winning
position (I should also mention that Levon helped him energetically). I don't
know what happened on move 34. Perhaps Topalov is not in shape in this event..
However he still leads it by a full point! 1/2-1/2. [Click
to replay]

Russian GM Alexander Grischuk

GM Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan
A. Grischuk - V. Gashimov [A62]
XXVII Linares/Spain (8), 21.02.2010 [Giri, Anish]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5. Again Benoni! It is a unique opportunity
to enjoy watching so many Benonis in a top tournament. Good for Benoni players,
who otherwise can only study some old classical games of Kasparov (which were
great though)... 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 exd5 6.cxd5 g6 7.g3. Grischuk goes for
the g3 system. 7...Bg7 8.Bg2 0-0 9.0-0 Re8 10.Bf4. The game Aronian-Topalov
saw the main move 10.Nd2. 10...Na6. A lot of moves have been tried here
– this is one of them. 11.Re1 Bg4
12.Qb3. A new move. It is pretty logical to move a queen away from
the x-ray of the bishop with tempo. By the way, it coveres the b5 square as
well. 12...Nh5 13.Bg5 Qd7 14.Nd2. Not on move ten, but Grischuk too sends
his knight to c4. 14...h6 15.Be3
15...Bf5? A mistake. Unfortunately, in the Benoni, one is often enough
to ruin the game... Somehow I really want to play 15...Rxe3 but with
the knight on h5 (and on a6) it can't be very good. A pity...; However, the
simple 15...Rab8! was better. 16.Nc4 b5 17.Na5 and here there are a lot of moves
e.g. Bh3, Nf6 or Rb6. In any case White can be proud of his knight on c6, but
Black has enough counterplay. 16.Nc4 Nb4 17.Rac1 Rab8 18.a4 Safe and
strong. 18.Nb5!? is interesting and possibly strong, but also very complicated.
18...b6. Preparing a6, but it turns out to be too slow. However, White
had a big positional advantage anyway. 19.Nb5 Bf8 20.Bd2 a6
21.Nbxd6! The whole point. Now White has a great advantage. 21...b5.
Trying to complicate the matter. But Grischuk is not someone who can be
tricked so easily. 21...Bxd6 22.e4 and White wins his piece back while
having a great positional advantage. 22.Nxe8 bxc4 23.Qxc4 Rxe8 24.Bxb4 cxb4
25.e4. White has a great centre, and here Black is simply lost. 25...Bg4
26.e5 Qf5 27.e6! fxe6 28.dxe6 Be7 29.f3
Winning material. the rest is easy. 29...Bh3 30.g4 Qg5 31.Bxh3 Nf4 32.Bf1
Rf8 33.Qc7 h5 34.Qe5 Qh4 35.Re4 Nh3+ 36.Bxh3 Qxh3 37.Qg3 hxg4 38.Qxh3 gxh3 39.Kf2
Rd8 40.Ke2
An easy game for Grischuk. Vugar made a rather non-obvious mistake in the
opening on move 15, and after that it was only Grischuk who could have helped
Gashimov. However he kept on playing very well, leaving his opponent no chances.
1-0. [Click to replay]
Current standings

 |
Statistics
Of the 24 games played so far:
- White won five games = 21%
- Black won one game = 4%
- 18 games were drawn = 75%
|
Picture Gallery from Linares
By Nadja Wittmann
Linares is located in the Andalusian province of Jaén, Spain, and is
the second most important city in that province. The city dates to antiquity,
and it was here that Carthaginian general Hannibal married the local Iberian
princess Himilce on the eve of the Second Punic War. Around the middle of the
nineteenth century Linares became an important mining center. The smelting of
lead, the manufacture of lead sheets and pipes, and the production of by-product
silver from the lead ores led to a significant population increase. The 6,000
inhabitants in 1849 became 36,000 in 1877. Today the population is over 60,000.
The bull ring in Linares is famous for the death of bullfighter Manolete (Manuel
Rodríguez Sánchez). On the 28th of August every year, people place
flowers on his statue in Linars. Manolete's death is remembered in the ring
by putting a bunch of roses in the place where he fell.
View
Larger Map
Linares is the birthplace of classical guitarist Andrés Segovia,singer
Raphael and the hometown of jazz vocalist Virginia Maestro and Venerable Manuel
Lozano Garrido.

The Paseo de la Virgen de Linarejos, the landmark promenade in the city
of Linares

On the sides of the promenade, between the palm trees, there are benches decorated
with...

... brightly-coloured Andalusian tiles, depicting in the main part the history
of the region.

The bullfight stadium Plaza de Toros in the Jardines de Santa Margarita

The XIX Finals in Linares, where the cavaleiro or horseman has been unseated

A bullfight during the Festival of St Agustine in 1883

The most famous
bullfighter of them all: Manuel Rodriguez Sanchez, called Manolete

The Paseo back in 1912

This one tells us all about the Paseo de la Virgen de Linarejos

El Ayuntamiento de Linares – the City Council, back in 1934

The Ayuntamiento in February 2010

A depiction of Linares in 1668 by the Florentine painter Pier Maria Baldi

Until recently Linares was a lead mining and smelting city. The last mine
closed in 1991.

A mining station back in 1897

Inside a Linares mine in 1914

Building the railway in Andalucia

The obligatory bull – a public obsession in this part of Spain
Schedule and results
Round 1: Saturday, 13 February 2010 |
Francisco Vallejo |
½-½ |
Veselin Topalov |
Levon Aronian |
½-½ |
Alexander Grischuk |
Boris Gelfand |
½-½ |
Vugar Gashimov |
|
|
Round 2: Sunday, 14 February 2010 |
Veselin Topalov |
1-0 |
Vugar Gashimov |
Alexander Grischuk |
1-0 |
Boris Gelfand |
Francisco Vallejo |
½-½ |
Levon Aronian |
|
|
Round 3: Monday, 15 February 2010 |
Levon Aronian |
½-½ |
Veselin Topalov |
Boris Gelfand |
½-½ |
Francisco Vallejo |
Vugar Gashimov |
½-½ |
Alexander Grischuk |
|
|
Round 4: Tuesday, 16 February 2010 |
Boris Gelfand |
½-½ |
Veselin Topalov |
Vugar Gashimov |
½-½ |
Levon Aronian |
Alexander Grischuk |
½-½ |
Francisco Vallejo |
|
|
Round 5: Thursday, 18 February 2010 |
Veselin Topalov |
1-0 |
Alexander Grischuk |
Francisco Vallejo |
0-1 |
Vugar Gashimov |
Levon Aronian |
½-½ |
Boris Gelfand |
|
|
Round 6: Friday, 19 February 2010 |
Veselin Topalov |
1-0 |
Francisco Vallejo |
Alexander Grischuk |
½-½ |
Levon Aronian |
Vugar Gashimov |
½-½ |
Boris Gelfand |
|
|
Round 7: Saturday , 20 February 2010 |
Vugar Gashimov |
½-½ |
Veselin Topalov |
Boris Gelfand |
½-½ |
Alexander Grischuk |
Levon Aronian |
½-½ |
Francisco Vallejo |
|
|
Round 8: Sunday, 21 February 2010 |
Veselin Topalov |
½-½ |
Levon Aronian |
Francisco Vallejo |
½-½ |
Boris Gelfand |
Alexander Grischuk |
1-0 |
Vugar Gashimov |
|
|
Round 9: Tuesday, 23 February 2010 |
Alexander Grischuk |
|
Veselin Topalov |
Vugar Gashimov |
|
Francisco Vallejo |
Boris Gelfand |
|
Levon Aronian |
Games - Report |
|
Round 10: Wednesday, 24 February 2010 |
Veselin Topalov |
|
Boris Gelfand |
Levon Aronian |
|
Vugar Gashimov |
Francisco Vallejo |
|
Alexander Grischuk |
Games - Report |
|
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:

Playchess (and ChessBase Magazine) commentator GM Daniel King
who is famous for his Power
Play DVDs

Yasser Seirawan, who has an interesting Best
Games DVD
Schedule of commentators
13th Feb |
GM Daniel King |
6:00 p.m. |
14th Feb |
GM Daniel King |
6:00 p.m. |
15th Feb |
GM Yasser Seirawan |
5:00 p.m. |
16th Feb |
GM Yasser Seirawan |
5:00 p.m. |
17th Feb |
Free day |
|
18th Feb |
GM Daniel King |
6:00 p.m. |
|
19th Feb |
GM Daniel King |
6:00 p.m. |
20th Feb |
GM Yasser Seirawan |
5:00 p.m. |
21st Feb |
GM Yasser Seirawan |
5:00 p.m. |
22nd Feb |
Free day |
|
23rd Feb |
GM Yasser Seirawan |
5:00 p.m. |
24th Feb |
GM Daniel King |
6:00 p.m. |
|
Links
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! |
|