The 13th Torneo Internacional "Ciudad de Linares" was held in Linares from March 1st to the 17th. The field was a little weaker than usual. PCA World Champion Garry Kasparov (Elo ranked #1 in the world), Valery Salov (#3) and Vladimir Kramnik (#5) had decided not to participate, while Viswanathan Anand (#4) and Gata Kamsky (#7) had to play the Anand - Kamsky Candidates Final (1995) which started on 9 March (same day as Round 7). An upset tournament director Luis Rentero Suarez had cancelled the event, but luckily he changed his mind, under the influence of the mayor of Linares and a new sponsor, Turespaña. Fourteen of the world's top 100 players competed in the round robin format. They were: The FIDE World Champion Anatoly Karpov (#2), Alexey Shirov (#6), Vassily Ivanchuk (#9), Joel Lautier (#13), Vladimir Akopian (#15), Nigel Short (#16), Alexey Dreev (#17), Alexander Beliavsky (#18), Ivan Sokolov (#19), Alexander Khalifman (#24), Veselin Topalov (#27), Sergei Tiviakov (#35), Miguel Illescas Cordoba (#62), and Ljubomir Ljubojevic (#94). Karpov arrived from a tiring Karpov - Gelfand FIDE Candidates Semifinal (1995) in India. Shirov had taken up residence in Tarragona and applied for Spanish citizenship.
Vasyl Ivanchuk won his third Linares with 10/13, earning wins against half the field. The youngest player, Topalov from Bulgaria (who turned 20 on the rest day before Round 12), was among the leaders until Round 10, when he lost to Karpov. In the last three rounds, Karpov made three draws while Ivanchuk beat Dreev, Tiviakov and Akopian. Ivanchuk, Karpov and Shirov finished unbeaten. Ljubojevic did not win a single game. Although Illescas was sick during the event, he still did better than expected.
Hotel Anibal, Linares, Spain, 1-17 March 1995
Age Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
1 Ivanchuk 25 2700 * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 10
2 Karpov 43 2765 ½ * ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 9
3 Shirov 22 2710 ½ ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 8
4 Topalov 19 2630 0 0 0 * ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 8
5 Khalifman 29 2635 ½ 0 ½ ½ * 1 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 7½
6 Beliavsky 41 2650 0 ½ ½ 0 0 * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 7
7 Tiviakov 22 2625 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 * 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 6
8 Illescas 29 2595 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 * 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 6
9 Sokolov 26 2645 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 * ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 5½
10 Dreev 26 2650 0 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 0 0 1 5½
11 Ljubojevic 44 2580 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * 0 ½ ½ 5
12 Short 29 2655 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 1 1 * ½ ½ 5
13 Lautier 21 2655 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 1 1 ½ ½ * 0 4½
14 Akopian 23 2655 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 * 4
Category: XVII (2654). Playing hours: 3-11 pm (no adjournments). Arbiters: Juan Vargas Sánchez, Faik Gasanov, Juan Vargas García and Francisco Mena.Sources
Mark Crowther in TWIC 22 (http://theweekinchess.com/html/twic...)
Chess.gr, Linares 1995 report (http://www.chess.gr/tourn/linares/l...)
FIDE rating list January 1995 (https://web.archive.org/web/2022100...)
Jaque 398 (April 1995), pp. 46-52 (https://www.olimpbase.org/leagueES/...)
ABC (Madrid), 13 March 1995, p. 84 (http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Naviga...)
Jaque 397 (March 1995), pp. 6-8, 14-43 (https://www.olimpbase.org/leagueES/...)
Ocho x Ocho 157 (April 1995), pp. 4-10 (https://www.scribd.com/document/730...)
Tidskrift för Schack, May-June 1995, pp. 253-257 (https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1995...)
Robert Byrne in New York Times, 11 April 1995 (https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/11/...)
Roman Toran in Ocho x Ocho 158 (May 1995), pp. 4-21 (https://www.scribd.com/document/730...)
Original collections: Game Collection: Linares 1995 by User: suenteus po 147 and Game Collection: Linares 1995 by User: Tabanus. Round dates: March 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17 (from Chress.gr and ABC Madrid issues. Round 7 was played March 9).
Previous: Linares (1994). Next: Linares (1997) (there was no tournament in 1996)
Kibitzing
