2003 City of Linares Tournament

The Mayor Of Linares (left) and his assistant

The most common question I have been asked on the first day of the Linares super event is what are my predictions for the results and placements of the players at the end of it. I wish I had time to confer with my friend IM Ben Finegold first! He has been much more successful at these than myself. He predicted correctly the outcome of the 2000 Braingames match between Kramnik and Kasparov when most thought Garry would surely win. In 2002 he was almost alone (the only one I certainly heard saying that!) in claiming that Karpov would beat Kasparov in their rapid match in NY, yet he was of course right again! In between I have heard him make other predictions that I thought were off the mark but often times he was right on the money. Alas, since I was too busy yesterday to 'cheat' by speaking to him I will sum up my predictions with some I have heard and liked here: Nor surprisingly, I am 'going with the odds' by thinking that Garry will win. I think he simply cannot afford not to. Next month he will be celebrating the big 40 (me too L ) and as we know it is all downhill from then on… This is not only a tournament with 5 out of the top 7 players in the world in it (read: a sweet chance to prove who is the dominant "Alpha male") but also maybe one of the near last ones to do so. I am thinking he is more determined and eager than ever (is that even possible?!) to win. Opinions vary regarding Kramnik; Some are saying he is simply too rusty having played so little to win a tourney of such caliber right now, others say that if he gets it going he will finished without a loss and with a few wins with white he can end up on top. I am certainly not counting him out! It is not a secret that I would like to see Vishy making it a two-for-two for the year by adding Linares to his Corus crown. Yesterday he signaled in unmistakenable clarity that he is 'here'. I think starting with such a comfy win does a lot of good to his motivation and adds needed energy to push him further. The big question is, will the stamina remain till the end. If so, first is within reach for sure. Leko has had a pretty good year in 2002, most notably winning the Dortmund qualification tournament, and no one will raise any eyebrows if he was to finish high in Linares. Still, I am not seeing him winning here. I just can't imagine him scoring more points than Gazza and overtaking him, for example. For Ponomariov, the new year started on the left foot. The pressure from FIDE to commit to his match against Kasparov, affected his chess in Corus where he finished well below expectations. Later he gave up on his demands and signed his contract (out of exhaustion it seems) but now in round 1 he was unrecognizable again with a very bad showing against Vishy. While I hope he is still going to be noticed in this event, I am quite confident in saying he isn't going to perform miracles and win it. Lastly, the two youngsters in the group, Vallejo and Radjabov: I am pretty sure no one is thinking of them winning Linares (right Finegold?J) Not only would they need to have the tournament of their lives but also hope for mediocre performance from 5 top 10 players for that to happen. It is a great experience for them, and I am sure they would pick up at least some points against the lions, but at the end of the day I see them as the (maybe not so distant) cellar dwellers.

P.S. this was written before the end of the round of course! Those predictions don't look that good after it…. Where is Finegold when you need him? J

Today's duels:

GM Kasparov vs GM Radjabov

Kasparov - Radjabov: Poor Teimour's 'reward' for losing his game yesterday from a much better position was to face Kasparov with the black pieces… An obvious mismatch when Kasparov clearly must pick up such points in this tourney started with a slight surprise, when Kasparov opened with 1.e4. Many were expecting 1.d4 and some home prep against either the King's Indian or the Dutch, alas Kasparov opted for a Steinitz French. After 10…c4 Kasparov was deep in thought of how to counter this novelty that closes the center in favor of a Q side roll. f5 was suggested but eventually he settled for g4, later getting f5 in anyways. If I collected a penny from every strong player who told me how very shortly Radja would have to resign, I'd be rich! True enough, his advantage was significant and he confidently increased it more and more. What's more, his young opponent was approaching time trouble much like Kasparov was, but Kasparov is so much more experienced right? Well stay tuned: Around move 21 each side had roughly 20 minutes to make 20 moves and it became clear that if radja retreats his attacked Ng4, he would be left with nothing. Bravely, he decided to gamble on a piece sacrifice with 21…Ngxe5!? (?!) and Kasparov, maybe wisely declined it. His 22.Qe3(!) seems more logical than allowing his opponent to have 2 pawns and some tricks for the piece, whereas in the game he maintained a huge edge. It is understandable that Garry passed on taking on d5 and opening lines for black, but soon thereafter he got confused. 27.Rdf1?? is arguably one of the worst moves he has ever made! Short of time, the alert Azari didn't need a second invite and grabbed his chances with the crushing 27…Nb3+ and 28…Bxg3. All of a sudden it became clear that Garry must have overlooked that after a recapture on g3, Qg6! Is finishing him. He tried to struggle a bit but Radja, like a lioness holding on to the windpipe of a zebra, simply didn't let go! A sad faced Garry was shaking his head as per usual after a blunder, wiped the sweat from his face with his handkerchief, and eventually stopped the clock, signed the scoresheet in great speed and disappeared to calm himself down. Thus we witnessed one of the largest upsets if not the largest in the history of the Linares tournament! Imagine if he beat Leko as he wasn't far from doing yesterday! He could have been first! Big congrats to the likeable youngster, good going Teimour!

Ponomariov - Kramnik:

GM Ponomariov vs GM Kramnik

A Rossolimo Sicilian, where Kramnik went for a set up he has used before with g6 sans d6. Perhaps Pono was preparing to repeat a game where Adams got a nice pull against Kramnik in this line, but Vlad was the first to deviate with 13…b6. The point of the move is of course to play 14…b5 in case of 14.bxc5. After some thought 14.Nh2 was played and now it was the world champ's time to do some brainstorming to come with the sharp 14…f5!? And all of a sudden Nh2 looked dubious. Black started mobilizing forward and since white passed on 15.exf5 black looked better. Actually, matters got from bad to worse like an avalanche for poor Ruslan. 19.d4 was a desperado attempt to get something going but after 24…c5! Kramnik smartly gave back the extra pawn and got a dream endgame with a B pair and a strong passed pawn.

Ponomariov in full concentration right before the game.

In the hands of a master like Kramnik this was a breeze: 29…d3! Was the last nail in the coffin since the temporary Rook sac led to a new Queen and a few moves later a 0-1 was registered. To quote some GM's during and after the game:" Ponomariov played like a kid'… Now in chess that often doesn't mean anything demeaning with so many strong young players but this time it was meant as such. One can only hope Pono will spring back to his old self soon.

Vallejo - Anand: The two have been repeating their game from the German league from late last year in the same Nimzo Queen's Indian (draw in 44 moves) but Paco deviated as early as move 8, playing 0-0 and later taking on d5 like that abovementioned game, but delay playing Ne5. To quote Leko who was visiting the pressroom, black had a 'solid but passive position'. That was a polite way to say that Vishy was much worse! White was dominating nicely, but maybe his 25.Rxd4?! was the moment he went wrong. 25.exd4 keeps the N on e5 for a good while since in the game, after some maneuvering Anand decided to sacrifice an exchange on e5, for which he got a pawn with a beautifully strong, centralized Q and an immediate draw offer was followed from Vallejo, One that was accepted fairly quickly.

GM Vallejo vs GM Anand