Linares Round 1

[ruymoultor]

The Standings After 1 Round
LEKO +1=0-0
KASPAROV +0=1-0
KRAMNIK +0=1-0
SHIROV +0=1-0
VALLEJO-PONS +0=1-0
RADJABOV +0=0-1

--TOPALOV had the bye--

Kramnik versus Vallejo-Pons was a dissapointing draw in the Scotch Game after only 17 and ply moves. Kramnik had the black pieces in this tame affair.

Leko won against Radjabov with some nice endgame play and with the black pieces! Radjabov opened with a misc. Queen's Pawn game, declining the option to go into a normal Indian defense.

Shirov drew Kasparov, who had the black pieces, in the most exciting game of the round. Play was back and forth and both players played aggressively in a Sicilian Defense, Najdorf variation. Game ended with triple repitition, though the players agreed to a draw just before the actual fact. Here is the PGN to the game

[Event "21st Linares"]
[Site "Linares ESP"]
[Date "2004.19.02"]
[Round "1"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[White "Shirov"]
[Black "Kasparov"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2830"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 Nbd7 9. Qd2 b5 10. a4 b4 11. Nd5 Bxd5 12. exd5 Nb6 13. Bxb6 Qxb6 14. a5 Qb7 15. Bc4 g6 16. Ra4 Rb8 17. Qd3 Ra8 18. Qd2 Rb8 19. Nc1 h5 20. Nd3 Bh6 21. Qe2 O-O 22. Nxb4 Qd7 23. Nc6 Rxb2 24. O-O h4 25. Bb3 h3 26. g3 e4 27. fxe4 Qg4 28. Qd3 Qg5 29. e5 dxe5 30. Rh4 e4 31. Qd4 Ng4 32. Rxh6 Nxh6 33. Qxb2 Qe3+ 34. Rf2 Qe1+ 35. Rf1 Qe3+ 1/2-1/2

Good Luck to all the players as they go into the second round of the prestigous event!