The third major chess event held in Linares, Spain became a full GM event due in large part to the maneuvering of grocery tycoon Luis Rentero Suarez. In addition to contracting world champion Anatoly Karpov, he was able to sign 11 other grandmasters, including Larry Christiansen, the winner of Linares (1979). Other sponsors were: the City Council of Linares, the Provincial Council, the Chamber of Commerce, the Spanish Chess Federation, Champagne Codorniu, Pedro Domecq, and several banks. The players were: Karpov (Elo ranked #1 in the world), Lajos Portisch (#2), Boris Spassky (#4), Bent Larsen (#12), Ljubomir Ljubojevic (#14), Zoltan Ribli (#20), Lubomir Kavalek (#32), Svetozar Gligoric (#51), Guillermo García González (#61), Christiansen (#66), Miguel Quinteros (#75), and Juan Bellón López (#407). Spassky and García were replacements for Lev Polugaevsky (#7) and Mikhail Tal (#29) (Christiansen says Kavalek replaced Tal). Among the many visitors were Yasser Seirawan, an assistant of world championship challenger Viktor Korchnoi. The players stayed in the Hotel Cervantes. The play took place in the House of Culture, during the same two weeks as the Hoogovens (1981) tournament. The rounds started at 4 pm.
Karpov won with 8/11, and received the magnificent silver artwork and his playing fee. After the event, he considered Portisch vs Karpov, 1981 to be his best game. Christiansen also got 8/11 but was behind on Sonneborn-Berger score. He lost their individual game, but wins against Spassky and Portisch gave the performance of his life, in one of the strongest fields he ever faced. Rentero devised that in Linares the number of wins should be the tiebreak factor. Larsen took third, despite falling into Spassky's trap in Round 4, and turning down Ribli's draw offer in Round 5. After the event, Ljubojevic remained in Linares where he planned to help organize the next year's edition. He also married a local woman. The beauty prize went to him for Ljubojevic vs J Bellon Lopez, 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
1 Karpov 29 2690 * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 8
2 Christiansen 24 2515 0 * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 8
3 Larsen 45 2610 ½ ½ * 0 0 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 7
4 Ribli 29 2585 ½ ½ 1 * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 0 ½ 6½
5 Spassky 43 2635 ½ 0 1 ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 6
6 Kavalek 37 2550 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 6
7 Portisch 43 2650 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 1 1 5½
8 Ljubojevic 30 2605 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ 1 ½ 5
9 Gligoric 57 2530 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 * 1 0 1 5
10 Quinteros 33 2505 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 * 1 1 4
11 Bellón 29 2415 ½ 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 * 1 3½
12 García 27 2520 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 * 1½
Category: XIII (2568). Chief arbiter: IA José María González.
Video (Round 10): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkN...Tournament book: Linares 81, ed. by José María González Pérez. Revista Jaque, San Sebastián. 180 pp. With contributions by Ricardo Calvo Minguez and some of the players.
Sources
*FIDE rating list January 1981 (https://web.archive.org/web/2022102...)
Jesús J. Boyero in Marca, 22 December 2015 (http://www.marca.com/ajedrez/2015/1...)
José María González in Jaque 111 (March 1981), pp. 3-14 (https://www.olimpbase.org/leagueES/...)
Antonio Gude in El ajedrez 14 (February 1981), pp. 51-60 (http://www.historiadelajedrezespano...)
Larry Christiansen in Chess Voice, Vol. 14, No. 1 (April-May 1981), pp. 9-10 (http://www.chessdryad.com/articles/...)
Tidskrift för Schack, March-April 1981, pp. 75-76, citing Alexey Suetin in Moscow News (https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1981...)
Original collections: Game Collection: Linares 1981 by User: suenteus po 147 and Game Collection: Linares 1981 by User: Tabanus. Round dates (from Spanish and Dutch newspapers): January 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 31.
Previous: Linares (1979). Next: Linares (1983)
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