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Ciudad de Linares 2010 – all round one games drawn
13.02.2010 – The traditional Linares tournament has started today in Andalucia, Spain. It has been shrunk down to six players – in 2009 there were eight, and in previous years there have been up to 14. The category this time is 21, with an average Elo of 2757 (and no player below 2700). In round one all three games were drawn, but one was very interesting. Illustrated report with commentary by GM Anish Giri. |
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Linares R2: Topalov and Grischuk score first wins
15.02.2010 – Bulgarian GM and World Championship challenger Veselin Topalov scored a fine positional win over Azeri GM Vugar Gashimov. Alexander Grischuk of Russia dismantled Israeli GM Boris Gelfand, while Levon Aronian of Armenia used the Berlin Defence to get a somewhat shaky draw against Francisco Vallejo. Games with commentary by GM Anish Giri. |
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Linares R4: three draws, Topalov and Grischuk lead
16.02.2010 – Our GM analyst Anish Giri sent us the following message: "Topalov: novelty, draw; Aronian: ending, technical, still draw; Grischuk: strange prep, maybe even worse, draw." That may be the shortest round wrap-up ever. Indeed after some very exciting games the three draws in round four were fairly uneventful. Draw ratio so far: 83%. Games, results, pictures. |
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Linares R3: three draws, Topalov and Grischuk lead
16.02.2010 – In today's round all games were drawn, but all of them were very interesting! Gashimov continued his opening discussion with Grischuk in the Qd3 line of the Poisoned Pawn Variation; Gelfand-Vallejo was a Slav sideline which led to very dangerous play; and Aronian-Topalov saw both sides miss opportunities to improve their chances. Commentary by GM Anish Giri. |
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Linares R5: Gashimov, Topalov win, Topalov leads
19.02.2010 – All three games were full of fight: Aronian came close to defeating Gelfand but drew; Vallejo even closer to defeating Gashimov but lost; and Alexander Grischuk had clear winning chances against Veselin Topalov but was outplayed by the Bulgarian in the end. We bring you extensive and deeply insightful commentary on this exciting struggle, provided by GM Anish Giri. Miss it at your own peril. |
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Linares R6: Topalov wins again, leads world rankings
20.02.2010 – It was a very complicated game, and with Veselin Topalov pressing hard and Francisco Vallejo in terrible time trouble the Spaniard, who had had winning chances, blundered a full rook. This third victory put the Bulgarian GM a point and a half ahead of the field – and two points ahead of Magnus Carlsen in the live world rankings. Game with commentary by GM Anish Giri. |
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Linares R8: Grischuk beats Gashimov, Topalov misses a win
21.02.2010 – "Two exciting games – and one Petroff," writes our commentator GM Anish Giri. Gelfand used the latter in a colorless draw against Vallejo. The other two games were more entartaining. Topalov had a clear win against Aronian but missed the killer move; and Grischuk profited from a non-obvious error in Gashimov's Benoni to narrow the gap to the leading Topalov. Big illustrated report with commentary. |
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Linares R7: All games drawn, Topalov leads
21.02.2010 – Once again: the result sounds boring, the games on the other hand were electrifying. Not, we hasten to add, due to their flawless perfection – on the contrary, they demonstrate that these are humans playing at the boards. Humans with nerves and frailties. The result left Veselin Topalov still in the lead by a point and a half, and the tail ender Vallejo the tragic hero of the event. |
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Linares R9: Grischuk stops Topalov, joins him in lead
23.02.2010 – Alexander Grischuk won his second game in a row, the third in this tournament.
He beat the leader Veselin Topalov, avenging a loss to him in
the first half. Topalov and Grischuk go into the final round tied for first.
Topalov has white against Gelfand, Grischuk black against Vallejo. It's going
to be an exciting finish – watch it on Playchess
with GM Danny King at the mike. Round nine report. |
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Topalov wins Linares, remains number two in the world
25.02.2010 – Francisco Vallejo held Alexander Grischuk to a draw in the final round, and for a while it looked as though Topalov had spoilt a very good position against Boris Gelfand to a draw. But the Israeli played the endgame inaccurately, allowing Topalov to take the full point and tournament victory. In the world live rankings he is now one point behind Magnus Carlsen. Illustrated report with commentary. |
