2003 City of Linares Tournament

Yesterday among the many visitors to the pressroom,

A view from spectators' row

I noticed 3 more familiar faces from the Corus Super tournament. Festival director Jeroen Van der Berg, committee president Dolf Vos, and the representative of the main sponsor, the Corus steel giant, Hans Goossens, were on hand - already planning for next year's 66th edition of "The Masters Tournament", if to borrow a term from the golf world. During dinner I was snooping a bit to learn who might be playing next year, and even got to compose my own 'wish list' of players I would love to see there. The trio was diplomatically non-committal, after all it is very early in the game, but I got the impression that if

Spanish GM Miguel Illescas

the head hunting and negotiations go well, we might see the line up of all line ups in January 2004! If that happens, this is exciting and welcomed by all chess fans; I know I am already excited. With the declining number of large mega events one must appreciate the continuous commitment of the Corus Company and the City of Linares for their support and appreciation of high-level chess. May more be like them.

In much sadder news I have learned that Spanish GM Alfonso Romero Holmes is in Intensive Care Unit in a hospital after a serious accident. Alfonso was riding his motorcycle from his home the city of Leon en route to visiting Linares when it happened. Details of the accident are not clear as of this moment, since he has been in a coma for the last 24 hours. We expect more (hopefully good) news later today when his girlfriend will visit him in the hospital and call the pressroom to update. I am sure I am speaking for the entire chess community when I express my warmest wishes and hopes for his recovery.

Back here in Linares spectators and fans are really excited about the overall fighting spirit of the players and the high percentage of decisive games before the round: 10 of 21 -- 47.61%! The margin between first to last place was only 2 points! It is almost a game of musical chairs where everyone beats everyone. At the halfway mark only Vallejo is winless, but considering how close he came in some games this can change in a jiffy. Only one player is still undefeated- Kramnik but will he be able to fend-off his greatest rival with the black pieces today? I think that this is a clutch game for both players. If Garry wins, he is in the lead and I don't think anything will stop him from winning or tying for first. If Vlady wins, it's his tournament. I can't see him relinquishing the lead anymore in such case. A result of a draw would leave everything open - Without that boost of confidence of beating your main rival, neither one is the 'comfy zone' and the event is still up for grabs.

Today's round:

GM Kasparov vs GM Kramnik

Kasparov - Kramnik: A full room of spectators awaited the two big K's as they entered the stage. Experts and laymen alike understood that this is the 'do or die' game of the tournament. Win this one and you are on your way to victory. Vlady provided the first little surprise by ditching the Berlin defense in favor of a closed, Breyer-like line of the Ruy. Similarly to yesterday, Kasparov thought for a while in a known, theoretical position - maybe to recall his analysis, maybe to think up a new idea, and once again he came up with one. 13.Ba2 has not been played before according to my databases. The crisis in this game occurred when Garry went 16.d4!? inviting black to go 16…Nxe4? 17.Rxe4! with Ng5. After a few minutes reflection Kramnik chose the correct 16…c5!, the move that the guest GM's in the pressroom were discussing mainly and the game took a forced course since 17.dxc5 Nxc5 18.exd5 e4 was necessary. Now Kasparov played 19.Nd4 pretty quickly, while most thought 19.Nh2! was a better move. In that case 19…Bxd5 would be questionable since 20.Ng4! Bxa2 21.Qxd8 Raxd8 22.Nh6+! can be annoying. In the game white had nothing after the accurate 21…Nfd7! Kasparov set one more trap before he entered a perpetual check: if 30…Nxc2?? 31.Ned6! and wins. The game ended more peacefully with the elimination of that mischievous N and a perpetual. Analysis by Alterman & Doss.

The crowd awaits the two K's

GM Ponomariov vs GM Anand

Ponomariov - Anand: In the first encounter between the two, Vishy inflicted Pono his first loss, a fact I am sure the young Ukrainian remembers all too well. Today Ruslan's Sicilian Rossolimo that Anand played a la Kramnik didn't impress much. It looked like white was playing a blitz game in a coffeehouse more than a high level game. 10.c4?! looked odd and black's strong break with 11…d5 gave him the nod. 13.g4?! I didn't like at all, although Ljubo claimed it was forced (!) We did agree that 15.exd5?! was going downhill. Black could have played 16…dxc4!? (17.Rxe7 Qxg4+ and Qxh3) but decided to trade the c pawn for the g pawn, leaving him well on top. Note that white couldn't really defend his d pawn as 26.Nf2 runs into 26…cxb4 and if 27.Bxb4 Nf4+. In time trouble Vishy really was on the verge of victory 38.Ng4? h5! Was where some thought Pono would just resign! Now it was Anand's turn to go wrong: 39…Nf4? Where 39…Nb6! Just wins with no effort. Now it was still very good but with a lot of work left. Very untypically for Vishy, he first missed the easy 41.Rc2 and on the move he offered a draw on (42…Bxf2??) he was STILL winning with 42…Rxa2! Evidently, demoralized by his missed wins he thought his opponent has escaped and thought he must allow the perpetual after 43.b7 Bg3 44.Rf7+ For the second day in a row, Vishy after a long and hard fought game loses a half a point due to a miscalculation.

GM Leko vs GM Radjabov

Leko - Radjabov: It seems like young Radja have been cooking something special for his strong opponent. In an expected wild MacCutcheon French, he was blitzing out his moves while Peter was spending time thinking. He was the first to deviate from theory with 15.dxc5 but Teimour was still in fast-mode. Only around move 18-19 did he put his pen down and started thinking. Alas black's position looked very shaky. After 19.Qe4! the strange looking white K looked quite sheltered while white was already planning an assault on its counterpart. 19.hxg5 20.g4 would transpose to the game and 19…Qxc5? 20.Rb5 is bad. In the game Peter played very well with 21.Bb5, canceling out the threat of 21…Bc6 because of 22.Bxc6 with either a much better endgame if the Q's go off or gxh6 if not. 25.Nd4! increased white's advantage and 26…Rd7? Accelerated the end after the strong 37.c6! The game ended with a cute Q sac: 32.Qxf8! and black resigned as 32…Qxf8 33.Nb5 Qc5 34.Nd6+ Kd8 35.c7+ gains the queen, then the h pawn is unstoppable. Another powerful performance for Leko!