Kasparov wins again, takes two-point lead after ten rounds at Linares

Former wold champion Garry Kasparov defeated Spanish grandmaster Francisco Vallejo in 54 moves today and opened up a two-point lead over the field after ten rounds of the 22nd Ciudad de Linares chess tournament in south central Spain.

Kasparov’s neareat rivals in the tournament standings are Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, who lost a world title match to Kasparov ten years ago in New York, and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. Topalov was idle today while Anand drew his game with Hungary’s Peter Leko. Topalov and Anand both have 4½ point out of eight games played, while Kasparov has 6½ points out of nine. A player is awarded a full point for each victory while draws are worth a half point each.

Kasparov’s win was his second win in as many games and his second win of the tournament over Vallejo. Kasparov also defeated Vallejo in the third round, one week ago. Overall, Kasparov has won four games and drawn five without a loss.



Kasparov digs in for today's action

Kasparov played White today and opened with his Queen’s pawn, as he did more often in his youth than in more recent years. Vallejo countered with a Slav Defense (1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5). The game produced nothing unusual and appeared headed for a draw until Vallejo, in time trouble, blundered away a pawn on his 37th move. The players descended to a Queen-and-pawn ending in which Kasparov soon snapped off another pawn, giving him a passed pawn on the Queen side. Kasparov easily nursed his advantage home for the full point.

Further analysis will be up later on ChessBase.com and The Week in Chess (ChessCenter).

In one other game today, British grandmaster Michael Adams drew with reigning FIDE champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan.

The extent of Kasparov’s lead over Anand and Topalov will be better measured after tomarrow’s action, when Kasparov draws the bye in the seven player tournament. Both Anand and Topalov will play Black against Kasimdzhanov and Leko, respectively. Tomorrow’s other game will pit Vallejo as White against Adams.

The tournament concludes after the 14th round on Thursday, when each competitor will have played twelve games.

The Linares tournament, named for the Andalusian town in which it is held, was first played in 1978 and has been an annual event since 1988, with the exception of 1996. It is nowadays to chess what Wimbledon is to tennis. Kasparov first played in the event in 1990, when he finished first in a 14-player field. In 1998, the tournament began its present format with fewer competitors chosen from the elite of international chess. In 1999, the eight competitors in the tournament were the eight top ranked players in the world. Kasparov underscored his dominance of international chess in the nineties by winning the 1999 Linares tournament by 2½ points over his nearest rivals, Anand and current world champion Vladimir Kramnik.

Kasparov has won the event eight times: in 1990, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Photo from The Week in Chess