Kasparov defeats Adams in round 5 at Linares to take clear lead

[Jack Rabbit]

Former world champion Garry Kasparov took a clear lead in the 22nd Ciudad de Linares chess tournament by defeating British grandmaster Michael Adams.

In other results today, India's Viswanthan Anand drew against Spaniard Francisco Vallejo and the game between Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Uzbek grandmaster Rustam Kasimdzhanov also ended in a draw. The other competitor in the seven-player event, Hungarian grandmaster Peter Leko, had a bye.

Details of today's action will be available later today on the English language edition of the German website ChessBase.com.


Kasparov and Adams earlier today as they prepare for battle

The win gives Kasparov three points out of the four games which he has played. Kasparov drew his games in rounds one and two before scoring victories against Vallejo in round three and Adams today. Kasparov had the bye in round four, played yesterday. A player is awarded a full point for each victory while draws are worth half a point each.

Vishy Anand is currently in second place with 2½ points out of four games, while Kasimdzhanov, who will have the bye in round seven, has drawn all five of his games for 2½ points.

Tomorrow will see Kasparov play White against Anand in a showdown of tournament leaders just before the half-way point in the event. In two other games tomorrow, Topalov will have White against Vallejo and Leko will return to action with White against Kasimdzhanov. Adams will have the day off.

The tournament, held in Linares, an Andalusian town about 200 miles south of Madrid, is a double round robin that is scheduled to complete on March 10. Each player will play a total of twelve games in fourteen rounds. The tournament is rated a category 20, making it one of the strongest tournaments in recent history. Kasimdzhanov, ranked 25th in world, is the lowest ranked player in the event and Vallejo, ranked 19th, is the only other player in the event not ranked in the top ten. Kasparov is ranked first, Anand second, Topalov third, Leko fifth and Adams seventh.


Photo from the official tournament website

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Link to round 5 games

It's been one heck of a day trying to follow Linares. I have not been able to access ChessGames.com all day. ChessGames provides a live broadcast of one game daily.

The official tournament side had its live broadcast of today's action go up and down all day.

ChessBase has its coverage up, but the link to the games still goes to round 4 games.

I finally found the result on Chess FM.

Here are the games from round 5 from the tounament site. For those who wish to follow it there, the notation is in Spanish:

R Rey King
D Dama Queen
T Torre Rook
C Caballo Knight
A Alfil Bishop

[Jack Rabbit]

2. ChessBase's analysis is now up

BLACK: Adams

WHITE: Kasparov

Postition after 44. -- a5.

White is a pawn ahead, but the win is unclear.

The official tournament site's live broadcast stopped working after White's 44th move. I was able to see the position after 44. Qe3 and was expecting Black to exchange Queens in order to make the capture of the g-pawn more difficult.

The commentator on ChessBase regards 44. -- a5 as a poor move. Black resigned after 45. Re1 Ka6 46. Qxg5 Qxf3 47.Qg6+ Ka7 48. Re5 Ra4 49. Qh5 b6 50. Qe8 Rc4 51. g5 Rc7 52. Qe6 a4 53. Re4 Qd1 54. Rb4. In the final position, White is threatening 55. Qxb6+ Ka8 56. Qb7 checkmate. If 54. -- Rb7 then 55. Rxa4+ wins a second extra pawn.

Diagram from ChessBase.