Topalov defeats Vallejo, to face Anand

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6/11/2006 – On day two of the Ciudad de León rapid chess tournament FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov defeated local champ Francisco Vallejo 2.5:1.5 and will now face Vishy Anand in the final on Sunday. Their four-game final can be watched live on Playchess.com. The event is taking place in the city of León in the northwest of Spain. Report.

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XIX Ciudad de León

The 19th (XIX) Ciudad de León chess tournament is taking place at the Junta de Castilla y León building in León, Spain. It lasts from June 9th to 11th 2006 and includes four players: Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Viswanathan Anand (India), Francisco Vallejo (Spain) and Lázaro Bruzón (Cuba). They play in two groups, four games each, with the winners of the semifinals meeting in the finals on Sunday. The rate of play is 20 minutes for the game plus an increment of 10 seconds for each move. In case of a drawn match there are blitz tie-break games (5 minutes for all moves).

The colorful and historic city of León in Spain, with the old local council

The city of León, population 135,000, is the capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León, in northwest Spain. It is famous for its gothic León Cathedral (abovd) and other monumental buildings.

World famous: the Cathedral of León

The "Casa Gaudi" or "Casa Botines" is one of only three works completed by Gaudí outside of Catalonia, along with the Episcopal Palace of Astorga and "El Capricho" in Comillas.

The Junta de Castilla y León, where the games are being played

Start of the second day of rapid chess in León

The first game, which Topalov won convincingly

In the second game Vallejo had a promising position but ruined everything in the critical phase.

Vallejo Pons,F (2666) - Topalov,V (2804) [B91]
XIX Ciudad Leon ESP (1.2), 10.06.2006

32.Nh6+? [32.Ne7+ Qxe7 (32...Kh8 33.Qxe5) 33.Rxg6+ fxg6 34.Qxe7] 32...Kg7 33.Nf5+ Kh8 34.Qh4?? and because of the fork 34...Nf3: 0-1.

The third game was a draw (with Topalov attacking), and that clinched the match 2.5:0.5 for the FIDE world champion. Still the fourth game had to be played for the audience, and here the no longer motivated Topalov lost horribly in 20 moves.