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.
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