by Aviv Friedman

After my pseudo-philosophical piece regarding my feelings about the Anand - Kasparov game, some readers wrote to me and said it was touching, but now they are hungry for some tidbits or anecdotes related to Linares or the people I see here, so here goes:

The hotel we stay at, and where all the events take place, is called the Anibal. After almost two weeks here I finally learned that Anibal is Spanish for Hannibal (not Dr. Lecter but rather the one from Cartage and Punic wars fame) who according to legend found Himilce, the love of his life in Linares. So the hotel is named after him, the restaurant after her, and their logos unsurprisingly are shaped like an elephant.

Linares most famous son (other than Ljubo!) is guitar virtuoso Andre Segovia, who is understandably loved and cherished here. A big statue of him adorns the center of the town.

How John Henderson of TWIC and The Scotsman got his job at the latter: John was running the Scottish branch of the London chess center store when he decided to try and interest the editor of The Scotsman in carrying a regular chess column. As often is the case with newspapers, interest was low. He tried and told the editor that clients who frequent the shop often come with British papers such as the Times or the Guardian, since these have a chess and bridge column. Still unconvinced, John challenged him to visit a tournament in Edinburgh, not far from the editor's house, where a few hundred players were expected, and see for himself what they read. He accepted, and on Saturday morning he promptly arrived to the venue to see that indeed, many had newspapers, and indeed almost all were British ones. He turned to John and said: "you start Monday"! Little did he know that the same morning well before he was to meet this editor, John went out and bought all the British papers he could carry and freely distributed them amongst the participants!

How Ukrainian GM Vassili Ivanchuk and his second, Swedish IM Emil Hermansson met: Stranded at an airport for a 3 hour layover before a flight back from the European club championship, Emil noticed a visibly bored Ivanchuk. He took out his Russian pocket set and started setting up positions and looked over them. Curious Vassili offered to join in on the analysis, which was accepted. When complimenting Emil for the set, Emil mentioned he has a few of the same and promised to send Chuky one of them. He did, and correspondence followed, a new friendship created. Chuky reciprocated by inviting Emil to be his assistant in this super event. Not a bad way to get to know one of the world's elite eh?

Why 18-year-old Ponomariov has a mini bar in his room: Early into the event, the Ukrainian FIDE champ learned that Kasparov and Vishy (who are occupying the only two suites in the hotel) have a mini bar in their rooms. He quickly approached the reception and asked for one too. Puzzled at the unusual request, he was told that his room didn't come with one. He insisted and according to some eyewitnesses stated: "I have title! I want mini bar!" (Sic) A short while later, the same eyewitnesses saw a hotel service person rolling a portable well-stocked mini bar to the youngster's room. Fair is fair, but… does he drink? At dinners he was only spotted drinking water or juice… As long as he is happy, I guess.

Today's games:

Click to replay Ponomariov - Vallejo:

Ponomariov - Vallejo:   Looks like even the debacle against Ivanchuk a few days ago didn't change Paco's loyalty to the Paulsen Sicilian. Today, Ponomariov put it to a new test, playing the 5.Nc3 line. It is not clear if Pono wasn't prepared for that or had his own ideas, but as early as move 10 he deviated from the previous moves with 10.Bd2. Well, it turned out pretty well! His idea was to play a quiet move that lures the Ne7 to g6, after which a4 gains in strength. I can't say I was crazy about 13…b3?! Why not 13…Bb7, threatening to take on d5 first? When the N moves b4 isn't under attack anymore. Also, I thought that 16…Bc7 was more prudent, not trading B and keeping an eye on a5, then holding on the vulnerable "b" pawn. Instead, white calmly corralled the poor "b" pawn and won it. With nothing to show for the pawn, Vallejo drifted. Perhaps somewhat demoralized he played somewhat quickly. The pseudo-aggressive 21…f5?! simply brought him a bad structure and some inevitable trades (as did 25…c5?!) On move 29, early but not prematurely, he stopped the clock and resigned.

Click to replay Ivanchuk - Anand:

Ivanchuk - Anand:   A Catalan by transposition with Chuky choosing a very quiet line of it. Vishy deviated first with his 14…Ba6 instead of 14…Rb8. Although Vassili took some time trying to come up with something, he couldn't. 16.rd6 is a natural choice, 16.Ng5 is another (although after 16…Qxg5 17. Bxc6 Rad8 more trades are coming with a draw in the horizon. Note that Qg5 defends the b5 pawn a second time.) After the game Chuky mentioned the line: 20.Rxa6!? Nb3 21.Qe1 Nxa1 22.Qxa1 b4 as unclear. Since the game continuation was leading to a draw, this might be worth another look in another game. 20.f4 indeed forced black to sacrifice his queen, but he wasn't really down material and certainly his pieces were very well positioned to give him some play. The big question is why in the final position not try some more to play on? After 23…Rfd8 24.g4 Ne7 25.axb5 Bxb5 26.Bf3! (Suggested to me by IM Moreno) white combines the threats of Rxa7 and Rd1, trading one of the rooks and white without risk pushes for more. Ivanchuk had only 15 minutes to make 17 moves and that might have been a factor in his decision. Here, Anand accepted White's draw offer instantly. Not a very exciting game - I think it is important for Chuky firstly not to lose when playing Anand and Kasparov, and so against these two he can be too cautious at times, even as white.

Click to replay Adams - Kasparov:

Adams - Kasparov:   What happens when a strong British GM plays against a Najdorf expert such as Kasparov? If you guessed the English attack, give yourself full credit. The dilemma is what to do to either improve on the known lines, which Garry would know well, or try and surprise with something less known. Adams chose the latter, in the shape of 7.Qf3, a very rare guest in top-level chess. Kasparov was not shocked and followed the normal reaction in that line with 7…Nbd7 and 8…h5!?. Usually, white goes 9.0-0-0 but in our game Adams 'played it safe' and went for another plan that made the position look like a hybrid of several Sicilian lines. After the game, Mickey was heard saying that the position was balanced. I suppose against Kasparov that is good enough. His 16.Nd2 was again quite consistent with this approach. For a while both sides held off on their castling, black had to maintain his pawn on h5 of course - and when white moved 0-0 on move 17, Garry quickly came with 17…Ng4!? While one would think it started some action, is actually good enough to maintain the balance while changing the character of the position. The key was to see the nice intermezzo 19…d5! releasing his position by threatening mate. Now the Queens went off too and the ensuing endgame was again dynamically equal. 26.Nxe4 Rh5! would have given black tons of play for the pawn and Mickey tried another approach. He said he might have done better to try 28.a5!? but when he saw 28.Nc4 was enough to guarantee the draw he decided to just go for that. 28.a5 Rd4 29.c3 Rd3 again seems to give black play for the pawn, and so it was an understandable decision considering the time situation and his opponent.