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| The 22nd Linares tournament takes place 22nd February - 10th March 2005. Round 1 Wednesday February 23rd 2005. Rest days March 1st and 7th 2005. The event is again a 7 player double round robin category 20 event (ave 2743). XXII SuperGM Linares ESP (ESP), 23 ii-17 iii 2005 cat. XX (2743)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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1 Kasparov, Garry g RUS 2804 ** =0 == == 11 11 =1 8.0 2857
2 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2757 =1 ** 0= == 1= 11 =1 8.0 2865
3 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2786 == 1= ** == =0 == =1 6.5 2764
4 Leko, Peter g HUN 2749 == == == ** == == == 6.0 2742
5 Adams, Michael g ENG 2741 00 0= =1 == ** 1= == 5.5 2714
6 Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2686 00 00 == == 0= ** =1 4.0 2627
7 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam g UZB 2678 =0 =0 =0 == == =0 ** 4.0 2628
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Kasparov won the event on the second tie-break from Topalov.
Games won were equal, the second tie-break was number of
wins with black.
Round 14 (March 10, 2005)
Topalov, Veselin - Kasparov, Garry 1-0 30 B30 Sicilian Rossolimo
Anand, Viswanathan - Adams, Michael 0-1 52 E15 Queens Indian
Leko, Peter - Vallejo Pons, Francisco 1/2 67 B32 Sicilian LabourdonnaisRound 14 10th March 2005 Michiel Abeln reports. Michiel Abeln sent the Topalov interview and annotated games and the news that Kasparov announced his retirement at the end of this round. Round summary by Mark Crowther. Mark Crowther comments:  Garry Kasparov against Vesselin Topalov. Photo © Michiel Abeln. The start of the round saw Vesselin Topalov within a point of the lead. Not many people had noticed that Kasparov couldn't actually be caught as winner (of the trophy) before the start of the round because of the rather bizarre tie-break that Linares employ. Kasparov dominated the event, as he had done for so many years. The last couple of years have seen some of his worst chess but still he was top of the rating list and in all truth, no-one could really have been said to have over-taken him, Anand certainly had the better results without really dominating. Top level chess has become rather drawish and Kasparov hadn't been defeated by a leading rival in standard chess since Kramnik beat him twice in their match in 2000. Neither had Kasparov beaten one of his rivals for two years either. 2003 had been Kasparov's last really good year before he played in and won the Russian Championships late in 2004. There his chess took on a more relaxed and risky feel. In my opinion the lack of decisive games amongst the elite comes partially from Kasparov's example, which is not to say it was his fault. Kasparov invented a method of preparation which involved databases and chess programs which allowed him to play for wins without any risk. He virtually eliminated it from his game. Get everything nailed down and don't play anything you're not completely clear about (or at least this is how its turned out, especially in the hands of others). Nevermind that your opponent probably wouldn't like the position, it was a style of a mature player with achievements to protect and shouldn't have been one for younger players on their way up. This method put him way ahead of almost everyone, but gradually people caught up, first Kramnik and Anand, then Leko and alike. Almost everyone wants to play without the risk of losing anymore. Kasparov, first at the Russian Championship and now here (look for instance at his game as black against Adams and quite a few in the Russian Championships) reintroduced risk in what may turn out to be his last games. I think it notable that Topalov took risks in Linares whereas his rivals didn't seem psychologically capable.  Kasparov retirement press conference. Photo © Michiel Ablen In the final game Kasparov was faced by a Topalov novelty, he equalised before losing the thread of the game and going down to a pretty bad loss. It turned out that Kasparov intended to announce is retirement at the end of the event. Linares 2005 Kasparov announces retirement. Michiel Abeln Reports. Kasparov has been talking about moving on to people for a while now but I don't think they took him seriously. He wanted a rematch with Kramnik and he now can't see a way of getting that. He says that elite chess and the world title in particular is in a mess. He's right, many, Anand especially, came to that conclusion a number of years ago. He says he recognises his mistakes, I think that's only partially true. Kasparov had a big part in creating the problems but the terminally ill FIDE probably caused more. Kasparov had many attempts to find a solution when he was in control, yet he now expects others to solve the problem so he can get a rematch ahead of others who are almost a denied generation. Kasparov says he has nothing left to prove, and that's true, completely true, beating Kramnik in a rematch would be a nice tidy end for him but frankly it wouldn't really compare to his matches against Karpov and his tournament wins and his number one ranking over so long. A coda at maximum. I don't believe this is the last serious chess he will play, I do believe its the end of his world title ambitions and given the mess its in I think that's right, its time for someone else to try and fix it. I believe he'll be back, much in the same way that boxers come back around 1 year to 18 months after retiring. Although I'm also sure he'll put much more energy into his other interests also. It would be a terrible shame if he didn't play again, almost a crime, he will be able to compete for many years and with the pressure off somewhat he will probably play nicer and more interesting chess. But he should hold the thought that if he's depressed, there are many others who are more so, those who haven't had the opportunities Kasparov has had (Kasparov developed through the cycle and match with Karpov in a way he wouldn't have otherwise, there hasn't been that kind of chance for players to do that for a long time) and they're in their careers not at the end. If this is his swan song then its been an extraordinary career. Kasparov's dominance over his rivals hasn't been seen since Steinitz, the drama in his career has only been overshadowed by Fischer and no-one has reinvented their game and stayed at number one like Kasparov has. Kasparov had to change his wild young style when he played Karpov, he changed in the early 1990s and took up 1.e4, in the mid-1990s he changed again with his computer preparation and I believe he's changed again (perhaps more subtly) in the last couple of events all to great effect. The greatest ever? Its always subjective, but no-one has a better claim. I think his rivals have let him down somewhat. Kasparov struggled a bit in his early career against the generation of the 1950s, Petrosian, Spassky, Tal, Korchnoi and alike it would have been interesting if there had been more young players of their calibre around especially in the 1980s. Kasparov will be defined and remembered by his matches against Karpov his only serious rival in the 1980s, not his matches against Deep Blue and Kramnik when he went lamely down to losses. He also should be remembered for the quality of his tournament victories (Karpov claims more firsts but the vast majority don't match in quality) throughout most of the 1980s, all of the 1990s and in the early 2000s. But now is not the time for a chess obituary because I simply refuse to believe this is anything but temporary, certainly as far as tournament play is concerned. So Kasparov lost his "final" professional game, apart from rapid chess (and when he inevitably returns). The result meant that Topalov caught him in the final rankings. Topalov apart from a couple of weak games has played the most interesting chess both here and at Wijk aan Zee. It's a shame that he wasn't officially recongised as sharing first. Viswanathan Anand seemed to collapse towards the end. Three rounds before the end he was lost against Vallejo and through not fault of his own saved the game. Kasparov took a quick draw against him to secure first place, as it turned out, in the event in the penultimate round and in the final round he blundered away a pawn and lost to the struggling Michael Adams. I don't know if he was ill but there was something wrong because he played pretty well otherwise.  A hard event for Vallejo but he held Leko. Photo © Michiel Abeln. The big disappointment of the event was Peter Leko. He played the best and most interesting chess at Linares last year, denied first only by a strange combination from Kramnik when he overpressed, and he won Wijk aan Zee in January totally deservedly. Here the only interesting games were the ones he drew from bad positions. He drew every single game and never got going. He persisted a long time against Vallejo hoping for a collapse but he never got any serious winning chances. I'd be interested in his explanation for his loss of form. Michiel Abeln writes up Topalov's post tournament comments. The news about Kasparov was not really new to him he had already heard some rumours. Whether you like him or not, it is still a great player leaving because he is one of the best of all time. Topalov does not feel he finished second here, he won against Kasparov after all. He could maybe have made even more points with the winning positions against Anand and Leko, but on the other hand he had inferior positions against Adams twice. This tournament he saw more mistakes than in other years, but that was because there was more fighting so than it is logical. Michiel Abeln annotates:  Vesselin Topalov caught Garry Kasparov after beating him in the final round. Kasparov took the title on tie-break. Photo © Michiel Abeln. Topalov,Veselin (2757) - Kasparov,Garry (2804) [B30] XXII Torneo Internacional de Linares (14), 10.03.2005 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Bc4 d6 5.d3 Be7 6.0-0 Nf6 7.Nh4 [7.Bg5 0-0 8.Bxf6 Bxf6 9.Nd5 Bg5 10.a3 b6 11.b4 Bh6 12.c3 Ne7 13.bxc5 bxc5 14.Rb1 Kh8 15.Nxe7 Qxe7 16.Bd5 Be6 17.Bxa8 Rxa8 18.Rb2 Re8 19.Nd2 f5 20.Qe2 Bg5 21.Rfb1 Bc8 22.exf5 Bxf5 23.Ne4 Bh6 24.c4 Bc8 25.Rb8 Qc7 26.Ra8 g6 27.Qb2 1-0 Anand,V-Leko,P/Dortmund 2004/CBM 103] 7...Nd4 8.g3 Bg4 9.f3 Be6 10.Bg5 Ng8 11.Bxe7 Nxe7 12.f4 exf4 13.Bxe6 fxe6 14.Rxf4 Kd7! A great move, black has no problems after this 15.Nf3 Rf8 16.Rxf8 [16.Nxd4 Topalov felt it was better to play 16...cxd4 17.Ne2] 16...Qxf8 17.Nxd4 cxd4 18.Ne2 Qf6 19.c3 Rf8 20.Nxd4 Nc6 21.Qf1  21...Qxf1+?! [21...Qd8 22.Nf3 Qb6+ 23.d4 Qxb2 24.Rb1 Qxc3 (24...Qxa2 25.Rxb7+ Kc8) 25.Rxb7+ Kc8 26.Rb3; 21...Nxd4 22.Qxf6 gxf6 23.cxd4 Rc8] 22.Rxf1 Rxf1+ 23.Kxf1 Nxd4 24.cxd4 d5 25.Kf2 Ke7 26.Kf3 Kf6  27.h4? [27.Kg4 followed by h3 wins for white] 27...g6? [27...h6 This makes a draw, it is mutual zugzwang] 28.b4 b5 29.Kf4 h6 30.Kg4 1-0  Michael Adams scored a welcome victory against a weakening Viswanathan Anand. Photo © Michiel Abeln. Anand,Viswanathan (2786) - Adams,Michael (2741) [E15] XXII Torneo Internacional de Linares (14), 10.03.2005 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 c6 8.Bc3 d5 9.Ne5 Nfd7 10.Nxd7 Nxd7 11.Nd2 0-0 12.0-0 Rc8 13.e4 b5 14.Re1 dxe4 15.Bxe4 bxc4 16.Nxc4 [16.bxc4 c5 17.d5 exd5 18.Bxd5 Bf6 19.Rc1 Nb6 20.Ba5 Qd7 21.Bxb6 axb6 22.a4 h6 23.Qb3 Qc7 24.Ne4 Be5 25.Nc3 Bxc3 26.Rxc3 Rfe8 27.Rce3 Rxe3 28.Rxe3 Rd8 29.Rf3 Rd7 30.Qe3 Qd8 31.Qe4 Re7 32.Qf4 Qxd5 0-1 Janjgava,L-Chandler,M/London 1990/EXT 97] 16...Nb6 17.Nxb6 axb6 18.Qc2 h6 19.a4 Qc7 20.Red1 Rfd8 21.Rac1 Qa7 22.Bb2 [22.b4 Bc4] 22...b5 23.Ra1 [23.a5] 23...bxa4  24.bxa4 [24.Rxa4 and it will be a draw soon] 24...Bf6 winning a pawn 25.Qd2 c5 26.d5 Bxb2 27.Qxb2 Bb7 28.Qe5 Qa8 29.a5 Bxd5 30.Bxd5 exd5 31.a6 d4 32.Rd3 Rd7 33.h4 Qa7 34.Rb3 c4 35.Rb4 c3 36.Qf5 g6 37.Qd3 c2 38.Rc1 Rc3 39.Qd2 Qxa6 40.Rxc2 Qc6 41.Rbb2 Kh7 42.Qd1 h5 43.Kh2 Rc7 44.Rxc3 dxc3 45.Rc2 Qe4 46.Rc1 Kg7 47.Rc2 Rc8 48.Rc1 Rc5 49.Kg1 Kh7 50.Qd6 Rf5 51.Qd7 Rf3 52.Qa7 Qd5 0-1  Francisco Vallejo Pons against Peter Leko, the last game to finish. Photo © Michiel Abeln. Leko,Peter (2749) - Vallejo Pons,Francisco (2686) [B32] XXII Torneo Internacional de Linares (14), 10.03.2005 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 a6 6.Nd6+ Bxd6 7.Qxd6 Qf6 8.Qd2 Nge7 9.Nc3 d6 10.b3 [10.Bd3 Be6 11.0-0 Rd8 12.Qg5 Qxg5 13.Bxg5 Nb4 14.Rfd1 Rd7 15.Na4 Rc7 16.Bf1 Nxc2 17.Rac1 Rc6 18.Nc3 f6 19.Bd2 Nb4 20.Nb5 Rxc1 21.Nxd6+ Kd7 22.Bxc1 Kc7 23.Be3 Bxa2 24.Nxb7 Bb3 25.Rd2 Ned5 26.Nc5 Nxe3 27.fxe3 Ba2 28.Nxa6+ Nxa6 29.Bxa6 Bb1 30.Be2 Bxe4 31.b4 Rb8 32.Rb2 Kb6 33.Kf2 Bc6 34.Rd2 Rb7 35.Ra2 Bb5 36.Bf3 Bc6 37.Be2 Bb5 38.Bf3 Bc6 1/2-1/2 Groszpeter,A-Forintos,G/Budapest 1981/MCD] 10...0-0 11.Bb2 Be6 [11...b5 with idea of Bb7 is an alternative] 12.Nd5 [12.0-0-0 seems a lot more critical 12...a5 (12...Rac8 13.Nd5 Bxd5 14.exd5 Nd4 15.Bxd4 exd4 16.Qxd4 Qh6+ 17.Kb1; 12...Nd4 13.Ne2 Ndc6 14.f4) 13.a3 Rac8 14.Nd5 Bxd5 15.exd5 Nd4 16.Bxd4 exd4 17.Qxd4 Qh6+ 18.Kb2] 12...Qh4 13.Nxe7+ Nxe7 14.Bd3  14. ...d5 Leko expected f5 [14...f5 15.exf5 Bxf5 16.0-0-0 Bxd3 17.Qxd3 Rxf2 18.Qxd6+/-] 15.Qe3 [15.exd5 Bxd5 16.0-0-0 Bxg2 17.Rhg1 Bf3 followed by Ng6; 15.Qb4 Ng6 (15...a5 16.Qd6; 15...f5 16.Qd6 fxe4 17.Qxe6+ Kh8 18.g3; 15...Nc6 16.Qxb7 dxe4 17.g3) 16.g3 Qg4~~; 15.Qe2 d4 (15...Bg4 16.Qe3) 16.g3 Qh6] 15...d4 16.Qg3 Qxg3 17.hxg3 Nc6 18.c3 Rfd8 19.Ke2 a5 20.cxd4 Nxd4+ 21.Ke3 a4 22.f4 f6 23.bxa4 Rxa4 24.Rhc1 Rxa2 25.Rxa2 Bxa2 26.fxe5 fxe5 27.Rc5 Nc6 28.Bxe5 Nxe5 29.Rxe5 Kf8 30.Rh5 h6 31.Rb5 Rd7 32.g4 Be6 33.g5 hxg5 34.Rxg5 Rc7 35.Kd4 Kf7 36.Rb5 Rd7+ 37.Ke3 Rc7 38.Rb6 Ke7 39.Kd4 Bc8 40.Bc4 Rc6 41.Rb2 Rg6 42.Bd5 b6 43.g3 Rxg3 44.Rxb6 Rg1 45.Rb8 Bd7 46.Rb7 Kd8 47.Ra7 Rg2 48.Ke5 Rg5+ 49.Kd6 Rg6+ 50.Kc5 Rg5 51.Rb7 Rh5 52.Rb6 Rg5 53.Ra6 Ke7 54.Kd4 Rg1 55.Ra7 Kd8 56.Bc4 Rg4 57.Kd5 Rg6 58.Kc5 Rc6+ 59.Kd4 Rg6 60.e5 Be6 61.Bb5 Rg1 62.Kc5 Rd1 63.Rxg7 Rd5+ 64.Kc6 Rxe5 65.Rh7 Rf5 66.Kd6 Rd5+ 67.Kxe6 Rxb5 1/2-1/2 |
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