The Linares International Chess Tournament (

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: ''Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez Ciudad de Linares'') was an annual

chess tournament A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London 1851 chess tournament, London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard ...

, usually played around the end of February, which takes its name from the city of Linares in the Jaén province of

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, Spain, in which it was held. It is sometimes described as the

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

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, being one of the strongest annual tournaments held on the ''de facto'' chess tour, along with the

Tata Steel Chess Tournament The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Ste ...

, Tal Memorial and

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

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.

History

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 The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

title featuring

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (, ; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, ⁣and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 ...

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 The Women's World Chess Championship is a chess match played to determine the Women's World Chess Champion. It has been administered by FIDE since its inception in 1927, unlike the absolute World Chess Championship, which only came under FIDE's ...

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 The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor. The Elo system wa ...

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 Judit Polgár (born 23 July 1976) is a Hungarian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, widely regarded as the Strong (chess), strongest female chess player of all time. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years ...

, 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 Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...

"took a move back" against

. 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 A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

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 Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid; Otomi language, Otomi: ) is a city and municipal seat of the municipalities of Mexico, municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. It is both th ...

. 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.

Winners

* 1978 Jaan Eslon * 1979

Larry Christiansen Larry Mark Christiansen (born June 27, 1956) is an American chess player of Danish ancestry. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1977. Christiansen was the U.S. champion in 1980, 1983, and 2002. He competed in the FIDE World Champ ...

* 1980 no tournament * 1981

and

* 1982 no tournament * 1983

Boris Spassky Boris Vasilyevich Spassky (; January 30, 1937 – February 27, 2025) was a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. Spassky played three world championship matches: he lost to Tigra ...

* 1984 no tournament * 1985

Ljubomir Ljubojević Ljubomir Ljubojević (; born November 2, 1950) is a Serbian chess grandmaster. He won the Yugoslav Chess Championship in 1977 (tied) and 1982. Life and career Ljubojević was born on 2 November 1950 in Titovo Užice, Yugoslavia (now Užice, S ...

and Robert Hübner * 1986 no tournament * 1987 no tournament * 1988

Jan Timman Jan Timman (born 14 December 1951) is a Dutch chess grandmaster who was one of the world's leading chess players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. At the peak of his career, he was considered to be the best non-Soviet player and was known a ...

* 1989

Vasyl Ivanchuk Vasyl Mykhailovych Ivanchuk (; born March 18, 1969) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was awarded the title of International Grandmaster, Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading chess player since 1988, Ivanchuk has been ranked at No. 2 on t ...

* 1990

* 1991

* 1992

* 1993

* 1994

* 1995

* 1996 no tournament * 1997

* 1998

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster. Anand is a five-time World Chess Champion, a two-time World Rapid Chess Champion, a two-time Chess World Cup Champion and a World Blitz Chess Cup Champion. ...

* 1999

* 2000

and

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. He was the World Chess Champion#Split title (1993–2006), Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the 14th undisputed World Ch ...

* 2001

* 2002

* 2003 Peter Leko (with the same score as

; won on tiebreak because of more wins) * 2004

* 2005

(with the same score as

Veselin Topalov Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced ; ; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. Topalov became FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE ...

; won on tiebreak because of more wins with black) * 2006 Levon Aronian * 2007

* 2008

* 2009

Alexander Grischuk Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015). He has competed in five Candidates To ...

(with the same score as

; won on tiebreak because of more wins) * 2010

Only six players won the Linares Tournament multiple times: Garry Kasparov (9 wins), Vassily Ivanchuk (3), Viswanathan Anand (3), Vladimir Kramnik (2), Anatoly Karpov (2), and Larry Christiansen (2).

Full results

1970s

1978

30 November - 8 December 1978 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 01 Jaan Eslon * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 0 1 6 02 Roberto Luis Debarnot ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 6 03 F. Javier Ochoa ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 5½ 04 Ángel Martín ½ ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 5 05 Ernesto Palacios ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 4½ 08 Antonio Àngel Medina 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 4½ 07 Orestes Rodríguez 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 4½ 06 Fernando Visier 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ * ½ ½ 0 1 4½ 09 Oscar H. Castro Rojas 1 0 0 0 0 1 ½ ½ * ½ 3½ 10 V. Pacheco 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ * 1 V (2363)

1979

30 November - 11 December 1979 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 01 Larry M. Christiansen * 0 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 8 02 Viktor Korchnoi 1 * 0 1 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 8 03 Manuel Rivas ½ 1 * 0 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 7½ 04 Oscar Castro 0 0 1 * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 7½ 05 Jaan Eslon 0 0 1 ½ * ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 5½ 06 Dragutin Sahovic ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 5 07 Drazen Marovic 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 5 08 Ricardo Calvo 0 ½ 0 0 1 0 1 * 0 ½ 1 1 5 09 Evgenij Ermenkov ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 * ½ 0 ½ 4½ 10 Milorad Knesevic ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 4 11 Juan Manuel Bellon 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 0 1 ½ * ½ 3½ 12 Fernando Visier 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * 3 IX (2459)

1980s

1981

Casa de la Cultura, Linares, Spain, 17–31 January 1981 Age Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 01 Anatoly Karpov 29 2690 * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 8 02 Larry M. Christiansen 24 2515 0 * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 8 03 Bent Larsen 45 2610 ½ ½ * 0 0 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 7 04 Zoltan Ribli 29 2585 ½ ½ 1 * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 0 ½ 6½ 05 Boris Spassky 43 2635 ½ 0 1 ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 6 06 Lubomir Kavalek 37 2550 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 6 07 Lajos Portisch 43 2650 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 1 1 5½ 08 Ljubomir Ljubojevic 30 2605 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ 1 ½ 5 09 Svetozar Gligoric 57 2530 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 * 1 0 1 5 10 Miguel A. Quinteros 33 2505 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 * 1 1 4 11 Juan M. Bellón 29 2415 ½ 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 * 1 3½ 12 Guillermo García 27 2520 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 * 1½ XIII (2568). Chief arbiter: IA José María González.

1983

Casa de Cultura, Linares, Spain, 12–25 February 1983 Age Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 01 Boris Spassky 46 2605 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 6½ 02 Anatoly Karpov 31 2710 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 6 03 Ulf Andersson 31 2630 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 6 04 Artur Yusupov 23 2565 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 0 5½ 05 Anthony Miles 27 2585 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 5½ 06 Gyula Sax 31 2560 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * 0 1 ½ 1 1 5½ 07 Jan Timman 31 2605 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 * 1 1 ½ 0 5 08 Efim Geller 57 2575 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 0 * ½ ½ 1 5 09 Vlastimil Hort 39 2585 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 5 10 Yasser Seirawan 22 2600 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * 1 3 11 Bent Larsen 47 2555 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 * 2 XIV (2598). Chief arbiter: IA José María González.

1985

Pabellón Julián Jiménez, Linares, Spain, 8–22 March 1985 Age Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 01 Ljubomir Ljubojevic 34 2595 * ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 7 02 Robert Hübner 36 2605 ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 7 03 Lajos Portisch 47 2635 ½ ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 6½ 04 Viktor Korchnoi 53 2630 0 0 0 * ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 6½ 05 Boris Spassky 48 2580 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 6 06 Jan Timman 33 2650 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 0 0 1 ½ 5½ 07 Lev Polugaevsky 50 2625 0 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 5½ 08 Anthony Miles 29 2570 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ * 1 ½ 1 1 5½ 09 Manuel Rivas 24 2480 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 5 10 Larry M. Christiansen 28 2560 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ * 0 ½ 4 11 Rafael Vaganian 33 2640 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 * ½ 4 12 Andras Adorján 34 2565 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ * 3½ XIV (2595). Chief arbiter: Antonio Romero Briones.

1988

1989

1990s

1990

Hotel Anibal, Linares, Spain, 18 February - 3 March 1990 Age Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 01 Kasparov 26 2800 * ½ ½ 1 1 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 8 02 Gelfand 21 2615 ½ * 1 ½ 0 1 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 7½ 03 Salov 25 2645 ½ 0 * ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 7 04 Ivanchuk 20 2665 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 6½ 05 Short 24 2635 0 1 0 ½ * 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 ½ 6 06 Gulko 43 2610 1 0 ½ ½ 0 * ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 5½ 07 Yusupov 30 2615 0 1 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 0 ½ 1 5½ 08 Beliavsky 36 2640 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ * 1 0 1 ½ 5 09 Spassky 53 2560 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 * 1 ½ ½ 4 10 Illescas 24 2530 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 0 * ½ ½ 4 11 Portisch 52 2605 0 ½ 0 0 1 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ * 1 4 12 Ljubojevic 49 2625 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 * 3

1991

Hotel Anibal, Linares, Spain, 23 February - 14 March 1991 Age Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 01 Ivanchuk 21 2695 * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 9½ 02 Kasparov 27 2800 0 * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 9 03 Beliavsky 37 2640 ½ 0 * 1 ½ 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 8 04 Yusupov 31 2605 ½ ½ 0 * 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 1 7½ 05 Speelman 34 2610 ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 7½ 06 Salov 26 2645 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 7 07 Timman 39 2630 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 6½ 08 Karpov 39 2725 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ * 0 0 ½ 1 1 1 6½ 09 Ljubojevic 40 2590 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 * ½ 0 0 1 0 6 10 Anand 21 2635 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 1 1 ½ * 0 0 ½ 1 6 11 Gurevich 32 2650 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 * 1 ½ 1 6 12 Gelfand 22 2700 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 0 * 0 1 5½ 13 Ehlvest 28 2650 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1 * 0 3½ 14 Kamsky 16 2640 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 0 1 * 2½

1992

1993

1994

1995

1997

1998

Final Results of 1998: :

1999

Final Results of 1999: :

2000s

2000

FIDE World Champion Alexander Khalifman was a late replacement for Alexander Morozevich. Final Results of 2000: :

2001

Final Results of 2001: :

2002

Final Results of 2002: :

2003

Final Results of 2003: :

2004

Final Results of 2004: :

2005

Final Results of 2005: :

2006

2007

2008

: GM Alejandro Ramírez ( 2509) won the III Morelia Open tournament.

2009

2010

References

External links

*

– a brief history and news of the 2008 event.

– winners, crosstables from 1990 to 2006.
Chess Tournaments at Linares
at Chessgames.com {{Chess Invitational chess tournaments Chess in Spain Chess in Mexico 1978 in chess Recurring sporting events established in 1978