The 19th Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez Ciudad de Linares was played from February 23rd to March 10th, 2002 (1) in Hotel Anibal, Linares, Spain. (2, 3) Six of the world's best players, and one local talent, competed in the double round robin format. The favorite was Garry Kasparov, ranked #1 in the world. Attention was also cast on the debut of young Ruslan Ponomariov (#7), who had won the FIDE World Championship Knockout Tournament (2001/02) a month ago. The unofficial World Champion Vladimir Kramnik (#2) had declined his invitation. The players were: Kasparov (#1), Viswanathan Anand (#3), Michael Adams (#4), Ruslan Ponomariov (#7), Vassily Ivanchuk (#8), Alexey Shirov (#9), and "Paco" or Francisco Vallejo Pons (#60). (4, 5) Kasparov was accompanied at the event by his mother, and also assisted by Yury Dokhoian. (3, 5) Ponomariov was assisted by Victor Bologan. (5) Vallejo was helped by Zenon Franco Ocampos and Roi Reinaldo Castineira, (6) and had conducted training sessions with Gilberto Hernandez Guerrero for one month. (5)

Paco avoided last place by defeating Shirov in a good game in Round 13, and the FIDE champion took clear second place behind Kasparov. The two teenagers lost to Kasparov with the black pieces. Paco in Round 8, and Ponomariov in Round 13: in the French Defense Rubinstein Variation he should probably have played 8...a6 rather than giving Kasparov an attack with 8...Nd7 9.Bb5 Bd6 10.Qg4. (3, 5, 7) In any case, "the first performance of Paco in an elite tournament could not have been more hopeful", (5) and the performance of Ponomariov silenced some of the criticism against FIDE. Kasparov did not speak to Ponomariov at the opening ceremony (sitting in adjoining seats), but he was friendly to him at the end of the struggle and even gave him praises. He also greeted Paco's father and said he had every reason to be proud. (2, 3, 5) It was his eighth win at Linares. (8)

Linares, Spain, 23 February - 10 March 2002

            Age  Elo   01 02 03 04 05 06 07 
1 Kasparov   38  2838  ** ½1 ½½ ½½ 1½ ½1 ½1  8
2 Ponomariov 18  2727  ½0 ** 1½ ½½ 01 ½1 ½½  6½
3 Ivanchuk   32  2717  ½½ 0½ ** ½½ 1½ ½1 ½0  6
4 Anand      32  2757  ½½ ½½ ½½ ** 0½ ½½ ½1  6
5 Adams      30  2742  0½ 10 0½ 1½ ** ½½ ½1  6
6 Vallejo    19  2629  ½0 ½0 ½0 ½½ ½½ ** ½1  5
7 Shirov     29  2715  ½0 ½½ ½1 ½0 ½0 ½0 **  4½

The IX Open Anibal de Linares (Swiss, 10 rounds, 1-10 March) was played this year in parallel with the grandmaster event. It was won by Pengxiang Zhang. (10) There was also a tournament for the blind (23 February - 4 March), won by Sergey Krylov. (11, 12) Tournament book: Linares 2002, ed. by Konstantin Sakaev (Grandmaster Chess School, St. Petersburg 2002. 224 pp. (in Russian)).

Notes

(1) Boris Schipkov at Chess Siberia, Linares 2002 page (http://www.chessib.com/linar2res.html)

(2) Rolf Lundquist in Tidskrift för Schack, March 2002, pp. 173-176 (http://www.schack.se/tfsarkiv/histo...)

(3) Peón de Rey, No. 5 (2002), pp. 6-32 (https://e-nautia.com/santiago/disk/...)

(4) FIDE Rating List January 2002 (http://fidelists.blogspot.no/2008/0...)

(5) Jaque, No. 553 (March 2002), pp. 5-43 (http://www.bartelski.pl/olimpbase/l...)

(6) Zenon Franco Ocampos in ABC Color (http://www.tabladeflandes.com/Zenon...)

(7) Robert Byrne in New York Times, 24 March 2002 (https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/24/...)

(8) Wikipedia article: Linares International Chess Tournament

(9) Crosstable by Boris Schipkov at Chess Siberia (http://www.chessib.com/linar2crt.html)

(10) Ajedrez Noticias Diarias Boletin, No. 20 (11 March 2002) (http://www.elistas.net/lista/torneo...)

(11) EListas.net, Información Torneos Ajedrez España, Crónica 05.03.2002 (http://www.elistas.net/lista/torneo...)

(12) Ajedrez Parque Sur Albacete, Linares 2002 page (http://www.ajedrezparquesuralbacete...)

Previous edition: Linares (2001). Next: Linares (2003).

Original collections: Game Collection: Linares 2002 by User: suenteus po 147 and Game Collection: Linares 2002 by User: Tabanus. Round dates (February 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, March 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) are from Chess Siberia.