Linares R10: Topalov continues comeback, moves to one point off lead

[Jack Rabbit]

Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, who holds the FIDE version of the world championship, won his third game in a row in the 23rd annual Ciudad de Linares chess tournament today and moved to one point behind the tournament leader when he defeated Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian in 76 moves.

The game began when White (Topalov) opened with his Queen's Pawn; Aronian adopted a Nimzo-Indian Defense, in which Black uses piece pressure to slow White's early Pawn advance to the center. After 25 moves, the players had wound down to an endgame featuring one Rook each and Bishops bound to opposite colors. Topalov was able to centralize his King and, by his 46th move, had one more Pawn than Aronian. Topalov nursed the advantage home to victory in another thirty moves. When Aronian resigned, one of Topalov's Pawns was on the sixth rank; it would have cost Aronian a piece to prevent it from queening.

Topalov floundered during the first half of tournament, which was held this year in Morelia, Mexico, scoring only 2½ points out of seven games. On Friday, the tournament returned to its traditional home, the Andalusian town of Linares in Southern Spain; Topalov has won all three games he has played since to move into a three way tie for second place with Aronian and 18-year-old grandmaster Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan. Radjabov won his game today against Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine. Each of these players has 5½ points out of ten games. A full point is awarded to a player for a win while draws are worth a half point each.

The tournament leader, Peter Leko of Hungary, drew his game with Russian grandmaster Peter Svidler today. Leko, who has 6½ points out of ten games, is a cautious player of great technical skill, making him one of the most difficult men in the world to defeat. Leko has three wins and seven draws without a loss in this tournament.

In the only other game today, French grandmaster Etienne Bacrot defeated Francisco Vallejo of Spain.

Tomorrow is a day off. The tournament resumes Tuesday when Topalov will play Black against Radjabov and Leko will have Black against Ivanchuk.



Topalov (right) scored a victory with Black over Bacrot Saturday

Photo from ChessBase.com