Spain's 21st Linares tournament began the 19th of February and will go through until the 5th of March, with rest days on the 24th and 1st. Linares is one of the strongest tournaments to be held every year and this year is no exception. FIDE rates this tournament at Category 20, much higher than the Category 5 it was rated when the tournament started back in the 1970s. It will be run as a double round robin with everyone playing everyone else twice, the second time with colours reversed. Every round three games will be played and one player will have a bye. Here are the players.
KASPAROV, Garry (2831) - He has won the tournament outright 7 times and shared first place once.
KRAMNIK, Vladmir (2777) - He was second on tie break last year and he shared the title with Kasparov in 2000.
SHIROV, Alexi (2736) - Home town favourite. The Spaniard has never won the event and his performances have been erratic these last few years.
TOPALOV, Veselin (2735) - Has never won the tournament, his best finishes were 3= in 1995 and 1997.
LEKO, Peter (2722) - Last year's winner on tie break against Kramnik. Will play Kramnik in a World Championship match later this year.
VALLEJO-PONS, Fransisco (2663) - A young Spaniard in the tournament. Has only managed two wins total in his two appearances at Linares.
RADJABOV, Teimour (2656) - Another youngster. Most famous for his win over Kasparov at Linares last year which won the brilliancy prize.
Stay tuned for more updates!