Linares 2002

February 22-March 10, 2002

 

Linares 2002 in Spain is a seven player double round-robin with Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Michael Adams, Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexei Shirov, Francisco Vallejo Pons and FIDE Champion Ruslan Ponomariov.

Full coverage at TWIC

SuperGM Linares ESP (ESP), 22 ii-10 iii 2002           cat. XX (2732)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Kasparov, Garry          g RUS 2838 ** =1 == == 1= =1 =1  8.0  2839
2 Ponomariov, Ruslan       g UKR 2727 =0 ** 1= == 01 =1 ==  6.5  2762
3 Ivanchuk, Vassily        g UKR 2717 == 0= ** == 1= =1 =0  6.0  2734
4 Anand, Viswanathan       g IND 2757 == == == ** 0= == =1  6.0  2728
5 Adams, Michael           g ENG 2742 0= 10 0= 1= ** == =1  6.0  2730
6 Vallejo Pons, Francisco  g ESP 2629 =0 =0 =0 == == ** =1  5.0  2692
7 Shirov, Alexei           g ESP 2715 =0 == =1 =0 =0 =0 **  4.5  2648
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Ponomariov gets to renew battle with Ivanchuk whom he defeated in the FIDE final, but it will be the encounters with Kasparov which will be the focus of most attention. The world No.1 has dismissed 18-year-old Ponomariov as nothing more than an enterprising youngster who capitalised on the fast playing format of the FIDE championships, "He belongs to the group of young players who understand that with the seven-hour time control they have very little chance to join the elite."

Round 6: Game drawn
Round 13: Kasparov Wins

 

Ponomariov plays Kasparov in rounds 6 (with White on March 1st) and with Black in round 13. John Henderson sends photos on the eve of their first ever game. It is only a month since Kasparov said he would have difficulty in recognising the new FIDE champion - now he gets a whole 7 hours to clock a future pretender to his status as world no.1.

 

Different venue - same result

Linares rd1. Ponomariov doesn't seem to have minded too much about his ability doubted by both Kasparov and Ivanchuck. This time Vassily will have to think up a new excuse other than the time control since the young FIDE champion won in the first round at Linares. (Photos by JBH).