Veselin Topalov win Linares 2010

Topalov qualifies for Grand Slam Final Masters

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Veselin Topalov won the 2010 edition of the Linares chess tournament. He collected 6,5/9, half a point more than Grischuk (winner of 2009) and a point more than Aronian. With this victory, Topalov becomes the second player to guarantee his spot at the Grand Slam Final after Magnus Carlsen.

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Entering the second half of the double round robin tournament with a large margin of point and a half ahead of the opposition, Topalov's victory appeared imminent, but he almost threw it away in the penultimate game after losing against the last-year winner Alexander Grischuk, who then caught up on the shared first place.

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But Topalov quickly bounced up and beat the 2009 World Cup winner Boris Gelfand in the last round in an impressive Rook endgame. Meanwhile, Grischuk could not achieve more than a draw with black pieces against Francisco Vallejo Pons and remained half a point behind the Bulgarian. Levon Aronian secured the third place by winning against Vugar Gashimov.

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This is Topalov's first sole victory of Linares, which comes after an year off which he took to play the Challengers match against Kamsky. In 2005 he shared first with Garry Kasparov after defeating him in the last round, a game after which Kasparov announced he is retiring.

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Linares 2010 was the last tournament of Veselin Topalov before his WCC match against Viswanathan Anand.

Linares R9: Grischuk beats Topalov

Alexander Grischuk defeated Veselin Topalov in round 9 of the Linares super-tournament. The two are leading with just one round to go. Gashimov-Vallejo and Gelfand-Aronian were both drawn. Big pictorial report.

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The 27th Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez “Ciudad de Linares” takes place February 12-25 in Linares, Andalucia, Spain.

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A six players, double round-robin, with Veselin Topalov (2805), Levon Aronian (2781), Boris Gelfand (2761), Vugar Gashimov (2759), Alexander Grischuk (2736) and Francisco Vallejo Pons (2705).

Linares 2010 starting

The 2010 Linares chess tournament, part of the Grand Slam circuit and one of the top chess events in the world, is starting today with the games of the first round.

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The field is reduced to six players, which will compete in a double round robin event.

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Tournament director Juan Fernandez underlined at the opening ceremony that he is happy the tournament has a category XXI despite the economic crisis and expressed the desire the competition to share venue with Morelia, UAE, or another city in 2011.

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Last year champion Alexander Grischuk and FIDE Grand Prix winner Levon Aronian are making another consecutive appearance. Former World Champion Veselin Topalov, who skipped the last year event because of the FIDE Challengers match against Gata Kamsky, is back to play in one of his favourite tournaments.

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He noted, "It will be very important to enter the World Chess Championship match against Anand with a victory in Linares. However, it will not be easy, as the competition is very strong."

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Boris Gelfand was invited after his win at the prestigious FIDE World Cup, while Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan is making a debut at the super-tournaments. Francisco Vallejo Pons was happy returning to Linares five years after his last participation and shared, "It is an honor for a Spanish player to participate in the most prestigious tournament in the world."

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Pairings of the first round are:

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Francisco Vallejo Pons - Veselin Topalov (draw signed)

Levon Aronian - Alexander Grischuk (draw)

Boris Gelfand - Vugar Gashimov, still in progress