FIDE chess champ Topalov having rough time in Linares Tournament

[Jack Rabbit]

Bulgarian grandmaster Veselin Topalov, who holds FIDE's version of the world chess championship, is off to a slow start in the 2006 Linares tournament after losing his fourth round game to 18-year-old Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan yesterday.

It was Topalov's second loss in four rounds. He is yet to score a victory.

Topalov owns FIDE's version of the world chess championship by virtue of his runaway first-place finish last October in a tournament consisting of eight of the world's strongest players held in San Luis, Argentina. It is hoped that a match can be arranged between Topalov and reigning "classical" champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, whose claim to the title is by virtue of defeating then-world champion Garry Kasparov in a 14-game match held in London in the Autumn of 2000. Kramnik has been ailing with an arthritic back and has curtailed his activities since narrowly defending his title in a match with Hungary's Peter Leko in 2004.

Leko and Russian grandmaster Peter Svidler lead the tournament after four rounds with 3½ points each. Leko defeated Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine yesterday while Svidler won his game against Etienne Bacrot of France. A player is awarded a full point for each victory while draws count ½ point each.



Tournament leaders Svidler (left) and Leko played to a draw in Tuesday's action

Also participating in the tournament are Lev Aronian of Armenia and Francisco Vallejo of Spain.

The Linares tournament is an annual event that in past years has been held entirely in the Andalusian city of Linares. However, this year the first half of the tournament is being held in Morelia, the capital of the the state of Michoacán on Mexico's Pacific coast and will shift to Linares for the second half next week. Each player will play two games each against the other seven, one game as White and the other as Black.

In action scheduled for today, Leko will have Black against Bacrot, Svidler will have Black against Aronian, Topalov will play Black against Ivanchuk and Radjabov will play White against Vallejo. The Aronian-Svidler game will be broadcast live on ChessGames.com starting at 1:30 pm PST.

Photo from ChessBase.com.

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Round 5: Topalov wins; Svidler loses; Leko leads

FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria defeated Ukraine's Vassily Ivanchuk in the fifth round of the 23rd Ciudad de Linares Tournament in Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico today. It was Topalov's first win of the tournament after two losses and two draws.

In spite of Topalov's slow start, few observers are willing to count him out of the 14-round event.

Peter Svidler of Russia dropped out of a tie for the lead when he blundered at the end of his game with Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian. Aronian immediately took advantage of the mistake to place Svidler in a zugzwang. Zugzwang is a German word meaning "compulsion to move"; in chess, it means that one is in no immediate danger but cannot make a move without severely weakening one's position. Svidler, seeing he had nothing but losing moves, resigned immediately.

Peter Leko of Hungary, who shared the lead with Svidler at the start of the day, drew his game with France's Etienne Barcot to take sole possession of first place with four points, a half a point ahead of Svidler. Aronian, a rising star in international chess, is in third place with three points. A player is awarded a full point for each win while draws are worth a half point each.

In the only other game today, Azerbaijan's Teimour Radjadov and Spanish grandmaster Francisco Vallejo drew.

Tomorrow is an off day for the players. The first half of the tournament winds up in Morelia with round six on Saturday and round seven Sunday. The second half of the tournament will begin March 3 in the Andalusian town of Linares, the traditional home of the event.