2003 City of Linares Tournament

20^th Ciudad de Linares Tournament

Final standings   Name Country Rating Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 Kramnik RUS 2807 7.0 / 12 X == == == 1= == 1=   Leko (1st TB) HUN 2736 7.0 / 12 == X 01 == == 10 11 3 Anand IND 2753 6.5 / 12 == 10 X 0= 1= == =1   Kasparov RUS 2847 6.5 / 12 == == 1= X 1= == 0= 5 Ponomariov UKR 2734 5.5 / 12 0= == 0= 0= X 11 == 6 Vallejo_Pons ESP 2629 5.0 / 12 == 01 == == 00 X == 7 Radjabov AZE 2624 4.5 / 12 0= 00 =0 1= == == X

If it's the end of February, it's time for another edition of the"Wimbledon of chess" tournament in Linares, Spain! GM Peter Leko and GM Vladmir Kramnik took the honors with 7 points each.

This year's version of the elite group was as good as it gets. All four semi finalists for the unification of the World Championship title played: Garry Kasparov, fresh from his tied match against Deep Junior, who will be satisfied with nothing less than first place. Classic world champion Vladimir Kramnik who hasn't been very active and wants to erase the lukewarm performance he showed in Corus. FIDE world champion, Ruslan Ponomariov, finally signed an agreement with FIDE to play his match against Kasparov, and will be free of any undue stress outside the chessboard. Pono is clearly out to equal or better his fine result from last year. Peter Leko, the winner of the Dortmund qualification tournament and Kramnik's future opponent has proven he is one tough cookie. He didn't play here last year and wants to signal to all that he is ready.

Tournament winners GM Leko and GM Kramnik at their press conference

Vishy Anand, after his great victory in Corus is always a force to reckon with. Local hopeful and Spain's highest rated player, Paco Vallejo is made his second appearance.

The 2003 Ciudad de Linares was a great one - Many decisive games, more than last year, exciting upsets, many interesting games, important novelties and hot battles of the world's crème de la crème gave us all joy and enrichment. Time and again, despite of a few relaxed days the media center was in consensus that we were getting more than our money's worth. Next year's version already has some pretty big shoes to fit into!

Aviv Friedman reports

Photos by Aviv Friedman