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Linares International Chess Tournament
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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 was 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 Chess Tournament, 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 financial reasons.
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 Luis 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 deferred to 1988 and the tournament from that point onwards became an annual event, with the exception of 1996, when the Women's World Chess Championship was held. Rentero was a strong opponent of short draws in chess, to the point that he offered cash bonuses for playing longer games. It's said that participants in these so-called "grand master draws" were sometimes penalised by receiving no invitation for the next year's edition. The 1994 tournament had an average Elo rating of 2685, the highest ever at that time. 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 considered 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. Polgár (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 colour).
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 cancelled again in 2012, with no return since.
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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 was 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 Chess Tournament, 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 financial reasons.
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 Luis 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 deferred to 1988 and the tournament from that point onwards became an annual event, with the exception of 1996, when the Women's World Chess Championship was held. Rentero was a strong opponent of short draws in chess, to the point that he offered cash bonuses for playing longer games. It's said that participants in these so-called "grand master draws" were sometimes penalised by receiving no invitation for the next year's edition. The 1994 tournament had an average Elo rating of 2685, the highest ever at that time. 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 considered 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. Polgár (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 colour).
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 cancelled again in 2012, with no return since.
