Linares International Chess Tournament

Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and Levon Aronian (Armenia) playing against each other during the 2007 Linares International Chess Tournament

The Linares International Chess Tournament (Spanish: Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez Ciudad de Linares) was an annual chess tournament, usually played around the end of February, which takes its name from the city of Linares in the Jaén province of Andalusia, Spain, in which it is held. It is sometimes described as the Wimbledon of chess, being one of the strongest annual tournaments held on the de facto chess tour, along with the "Tata Steel" Wijk aan Zee, Tal Memorial and Dortmund events.

The Linares tournament began in 1978 and was held annually from 1988 to 2010 (with the exception of 1996). Since 2010, the tournament has not been held for economic reasons.

History

The event, sponsored by Spanish businessman Luis Rentero, was first held in 1978. At that time it was not an elite event and was won by the relatively unknown Swede, Jaan Eslon (on tie-break from the Argentine Roberto Debarnot). After the following year's event, it was held every other year until 1987 when no tournament took place, that being the year that Linares hosted the Candidates' Final, a match to determine a challenger for Kasparov's world title featuring Anatoly Karpov and Andrei Sokolov. The postponed 1987 event was postponed until 1988 and the tournament has since become an annual event, with the exception of 1996, when the Women's World Chess Championship was held.

Rentero is notorious for being a strong opponent of short draws in chess, to the point that in 1991 he offered cash bonuses for playing longer games.

The 1994 tournament had an average Elo rating of 2685, the highest ever at that time, making it the first Category XVIII tournament ever held. The field, in eventual finishing order, consisted of Karpov, Kasparov, Shirov, Bareev, Kramnik, Lautier, Anand, Kamsky, Topalov, Ivanchuk, Gelfand, Illescas, Judit Polgár, and Beliavsky. Karpov won with an undefeated 11/13. Jeff Sonas considers Karpov's performance the best tournament result in history.

The 1994 tournament was also noted for an incident in which Garry Kasparov "took a move back" against Judit Polgár. Kasparov's fingers briefly released a knight before he realized the move was a blunder; he then moved the knight to a different square. Polgar (17 years old at the time) did not protest and the arbiter did not intervene. Kasparov went on to win the game.

In 1998, the format of the tournament changed from a single round-robin tournament to a double round-robin event (meaning that each participant plays every other participant twice, once with each color).

Garry Kasparov announced his retirement from chess after the 2005 tournament.

From 2006 through 2008, the first half of the tournament took place in the Mexican city of Morelia. The second half took place in Linares. Consequently the event is sometimes referred to as Morelia-Linares.

In 2009 and 2010 the whole event took place in Linares.

The Linares tournament of 2011 was cancelled, for reasons including general economic problems; the tournament was also cancelled in 2012.

Winners

1978 Jaan Eslon
1979 Larry Christiansen
1981 Anatoly Karpov and Larry Christiansen
1983 Boris Spassky
1985 Ljubomir Ljubojević and Robert Hübner
1988 Jan Timman
1989 Vassily Ivanchuk
1990 Garry Kasparov
1991 Vassily Ivanchuk
1992 Garry Kasparov
1993 Garry Kasparov
1994 Anatoly Karpov (Category XVIII tournament)
1995 Vassily Ivanchuk
1997 Garry Kasparov
1998 Viswanathan Anand
1999 Garry Kasparov
2000 Vladimir Kramnik and Garry Kasparov
2001 Garry Kasparov
2002 Garry Kasparov
2003 Péter Lékó (Joint winner with Vladimir Kramnik; but had a better tiebreak score)
2004 Vladimir Kramnik
2005 Garry Kasparov (with the same score as Veselin Topalov; won on tiebreak because of more wins with black)
2006 Levon Aronian
2007 Viswanathan Anand
2008 Viswanathan Anand
2009 Alexander Grischuk (with the same score as Vassily Ivanchuk; won on tiebreak because of more wins)
2010 Veselin Topalov

Full results

1998

Final Results of 1998:

XV Ciudad de Linares (ESP)                        cat. XXI
---------------------------------------------------------------
                                1  2  3  4  5  6  7    
---------------------------------------------------------------
1 Viswanathan Anand      g IND  ** 1= 0= == 1= =1 =1    7½  
2 Alexei Shirov          g ESP  0= ** == =1 10 10 11    7  
3 Garry Kasparov         g RUS  1= == ** == == == ==    6½    
4 Vladimir Kramnik       g RUS  == =0 == ** =1 == 1=    6½  
5 Peter Svidler          g RUS  0= 01 == =0 ** 10 =1    5½  
6 Vassily Ivanchuk       g UKR  =0 01 == == 01 ** 0=    5  
7 Veselin Topalov        g BUL  =0 00 == 0= =0 1= **    4

1999

Final Results of 1999:

XVI Ciudad de Linares (ESP), ii-iii 1999              cat. XX (2735)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Garry Kasparov      g RUS 2812 ** == =1 == 1= 11 =1 11  10½  2817
2 Vladimir Kramnik    g RUS 2751 == ** == == == == =1 1=   8   2782
3 Viswanathan Anand   g IND 2781 =0 == ** == =1 == 1= =1   8   2778
4 Peter Leko          g HUN 2694 == == == ** == 1= 0= 0=   6½  2712
5 Veselin Topalov     g BUL 2700 0= == =0 == ** =0 =1 ==   6   2690
6 Vassily Ivanchuk    g UKR 2714 00 == == 0= =1 ** 1= 0=   6   2688
7 Peter Svidler       g RUS 2713 =0 =0 0= 1= =0 0= ** =1   5½  2658
8 Michael Adams       g ENG 2716 00 0= =0 1= == 1= =0 **   5½  2657

2000

Final Results of 2000:

XVII Ciudad de Linares (ESP), ii-iii 2000              cat. XXI (2751)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
                                   1  2  3  4  5  6 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1: Garry Kasparov       2851  RUS XX == == == 1= 1=   6   2803
2: Vladimir Kramnik     2758  RUS == XX == 1= == 1=   6   2822
3: Peter Leko           2725  HUN == == XX =0 == ==   4½  2721
4: Alexander Khalifman  2656  RUS == 0= =1 XX =0 ==   4½  2734
5: Viswanathan Anand    2769  IND 0= == == =1 XX 0=   4½  2712
6: Alexei Shirov        2751  ESP 0= 0= == == 1= XX   4½  2715
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik finished tied for first on +2, inseparable even by the various tie-breaks laid down in the rules. They won the same number of games and had the same number of black wins. The next tie-break was for the worst score against the lower group and if still equal, the worst result against the second lowest group. But all the other players were tied on 4½ points, making the players level on every criterion. There was supposed to be a toss of the coin, but Kasparov did not like the idea and the players also ruled out a blitz playoff. Kasparov wanted the official results to record equal first, although he allowed Kramnik to take the main trophy.

2001

Final Results of 2001:

XVIII SuperGM Linares ESP (ESP), 23 ii-6 iii 2001    cat. XIX (2722)
--------------------------------------------------------------
                                 1  2  3  4  5  6 
--------------------------------------------------------------
1 Garry Kasparov     g RUS 2849 ** == 1= =1 =1 11  7½  2889
2 Judit Polgár       g HUN 2676 == ** =0 == 10 ==  4½  2694
3 Anatoly Karpov     g RUS 2679 0= =1 ** == == =0  4½  2694
4 Peter Leko         g HUN 2745 =0 == == ** == ==  4½  2681
5 Alexei Shirov      g ESP 2718 =0 01 == == ** 10  4½  2686
6 Alexander Grischuk g RUS 2663 00 == =1 == 01 **  4½  2697
--------------------------------------------------------------

2002

Final Results of 2002:

XIX SuperGM Linares ESP (ESP), 22 ii-10 iii 2002           cat. XX (2732)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1  2  3  4  5  6  7 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Garry Kasparov         g RUS 2838 ** =1 == == 1= =1 =1  8   2839
2 Ruslan Ponomariov      g UKR 2727 =0 ** 1= == 01 =1 ==  6½  2762
3 Vassily Ivanchuk       g UKR 2717 == 0= ** == 1= =1 =0  6   2734
4 Viswanathan Anand      g IND 2757 == == == ** 0= == =1  6   2728
5 Michael Adams          g ENG 2742 0= 10 0= 1= ** == =1  6   2730
6 Francisco Vallejo Pons g ESP 2629 =0 =0 =0 == == ** =1  5   2692
7 Alexei Shirov          g ESP 2715 =0 == =1 =0 =0 =0 **  4½  2648
---------------------------------------------------------------------

2003

Final Results of 2003:

XX SuperGM Linares ESP (ESP), 22 ii-9 iii 2003         cat. XX (2733)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1  2  3  4  5  6  7
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Peter Leko             g HUN 2736 ** == 01 == == 10 11  7   2789
2 Vladimir Kramnik       g RUS 2807 == ** == == 1= == 1=  7   2777
3 Viswanathan Anand      g IND 2753 10 == ** 0= 1= == =1  6½  2758
4 Garry Kasparov         g RUS 2847 == == 1= ** 1= == 0=  6½  2742
5 Ruslan Ponomariov      g UKR 2734 == 0= 0= 0= ** 11 ==  5½  2703
6 Francisco Vallejo Pons g ESP 2629 01 == == == 00 ** ==  5   2693
7 Teimour Radjabov       g AZE 2624 00 0= =0 1= == == **  4½  2664
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Leko took first on tie-break with the largest number of wins.

2004

Final Results of 2004:

XXI SuperGM Linares ESP (ESP), 19 ii-5 iii 2004        cat. XX (2731)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      1  2  3  4  5  6  7 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Vladimir Kramnik        g RUS 2777 ** =1 == == 1= == ==  7   2780
2 Peter Leko              g HUN 2722 =0 ** == 1= == 1= ==  6½  2762
3 Garry Kasparov          g RUS 2831 == == ** == == == 1=  6½  2743
4 Teimour Radjabov        g AZE 2656 == 0= == ** == 01 =1  6   2744
5 Veselin Topalov         g BUL 2735 0= == == == ** =1 ==  6   2730
6 Alexei Shirov           g ESP 2736 == 0= == 10 =0 ** ==  5   2673
7 Francisco Vallejo Pons  g ESP 2663 == == 0= =0 == == **  5   2685
---------------------------------------------------------------------

2005

Final Results of 2005:

XXII SuperGM Linares ESP (ESP), 23 ii-17 iii 2005      cat. XX (2743)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      1  2  3  4  5  6  7
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Garry Kasparov          g RUS 2804 ** =0 == == 11 11 =1  8   2857
2 Veselin Topalov         g BUL 2757 =1 ** 0= == 1= 11 =1  8   2865
3 Viswanathan Anand       g IND 2786 == 1= ** == =0 == =1  6½  2764
4 Peter Leko              g HUN 2749 == == == ** == == ==  6   2742
5 Michael Adams           g ENG 2741 00 0= =1 == ** 1= ==  5½  2714
6 Francisco Vallejo Pons  g ESP 2686 00 00 == == 0= ** =1  4   2627
7 Rustam Kasimdzhanov     g UZB 2678 =0 =0 =0 == == =0 **  4   2628
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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.

2006

XXIII SuperGM Morelia/Linares (MEX/ESP), 18 ii-11 iii 2006 cat. XX (2732)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Levon Aronian            g ARM 2752 ** 1= =0 =1 0= 1= 1= =1  8½  2808
2 Teimour Radjabov         g AZE 2700 0= ** 1= 0= =1 =1 1= ==  8   2786
3 Veselin Topalov          g BUL 2801 =1 0= ** =1 1= 01 =1 0=  8   2771
4 Peter Leko               g HUN 2740 =0 1= =0 ** 1= == == 1=  7½  2759
5 Vassily Ivanchuk         g UKR 2729 1= =0 0= 0= ** 1= =0 =1  6½  2703
6 Peter Svidler            g RUS 2765 0= =0 10 == 0= ** 1= 1=  6½  2698
7 Étienne Bacrot           g FRA 2717 0= 0= =0 == =1 0= ** =1  6   2683
8 Francisco Vallejo Pons   g ESP 2650 =0 == 1= 0= =0 0= =0 **  5   2641

2007

Final Results of 2007:

XXIV SuperGM Morelia/Linares (MEX/ESP), 17 ii-10 iii 2007 cat. XX (2746)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Viswanathan Anand      g IND 2779 ** 11 1= 0= == == == 1=  8½  2820
2 Magnus Carlsen         g NOR 2690 00 ** 1= == == 11 1= =0  7½  2782
3 Alexander Morozevich   g RUS 2741 0= 0= ** == =1 =1 01 =1  7½  2775
4 Levon Aronian          g ARM 2744 1= == == ** == 0= == ==  7   2745
5 Peter Svidler          g RUS 2728 == == =0 == ** == == =1  7   2748
6 Vassily Ivanchuk       g UKR 2750 == 00 =0 1= == ** 1= ==  6½  2715
7 Veselin Topalov        g BUL 2783 == 0= 10 == == 0= ** ==  6   2690
8 Peter Leko             g HUN 2749 0= =1 =0 == =0 == == **  6   2695

2008

XXV SuperGM Morelia/Linares (MEX/ESP), 15 ii-7 iii 2008 cat. XXI (2756)
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	TPR
1	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2799	**	1 ½	0 ½	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	1 1	8½	2829
2	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2733	0 ½	**	1 ½	1 1	0 ½	½ 1	½ 0	½ 1	8	2808
3	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2739	1 ½	0 ½	**	0 1	½ ½	1 ½	½ ½	½ ½	7½	2787
4	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	2780	½ ½	0 0	1 0	**	½ ½	1 ½	1 1	0 1	7½	2781
5	Teimour Radjabov (AZE)	2735	½ ½	1 ½	½ ½	½ ½	**	½ ½	0 ½	0 1	7	2758
6	Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR)	2751	½ ½	½ 0	0 ½	0 ½	½ ½	**	1 1	½ ½	6½	2727
7	Peter Lékó (HUN)	2753	0 ½	½ 1	½ ½	0 0	1 ½	0 0	**	½ ½	5½	2676
8	Alexei Shirov (ESP)	2755	0 0	½ 0	½ ½	1 0	1 0	½ ½	½ ½	**	5½	2675

2009

XXVI SuperGM Linares (ESP), 19 ii-7 iii 2009 cat. XXI (2756)
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	TPR
1	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	2733	**	½ ½	½ 0	½ ½	1 ½	1 ½	1 ½	½ ½	8	2809
2	Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR)	2779	½ ½	**	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	1 1	½ ½	8	2802
3	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2776	½ 1	½ ½	**	1 ½	½ 0	½ ½	½ 0	½ 1	7½	2781
4	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2791	½ ½	½ ½	0 ½	**	1 ½	1 ½	0 ½	½ ½	7	2750
5	Wang Yue (CHN)	2739	0 ½	½ ½	½ 1	0 ½	**	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	6½	2729
6	Teimour Radjabov (AZE)	2761	0 ½	½ ½	½ ½	0 ½	½ ½	**	½ 1	½ ½	6½	2726
7	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2750	0 ½	0 0	½ 1	1 ½	½ ½	½ 0	**	1 ½	6½	2727
8	Leinier Dominguez Perez (CUB)	2717	½ ½	½ ½	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	0 ½	**	6	2711

2010

XXVII SuperGM Linares (ESP), 13 ii-24 ii 2010 cat. XXI (2758)
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	TPR
1	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	2805	**	1 0	½ ½	½ 1	½ 1	1 ½	6½	2855
2	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	2736	0 1	**	½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	½ 1	6	2832
3	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2781	½ ½	½ ½	**	½ ½	½ ½	½ 1	5½	2788
4	Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP)	2705	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½	**	½ ½	0 ½	4	2698
5	Boris Gelfand (ISR)	2761	½ 0	0 ½	½ ½	½ ½	**	½ ½	4	2687
6	Vugar Gashimov (AZE)	2759	0 ½	½ 0	½ 0	1 ½	½ ½	**	4	2688

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