Bulgarian grandmaster Veselin Topalov, who holds FIDE's version of the world chess championship, is off to a slow start in the 2006 Linares tournament after losing his fourth round game to 18-year-old Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan yesterday.
It was Topalov's second loss in four rounds. He is yet to score a victory.
Topalov owns FIDE's version of the world chess championship by virtue of his runaway first-place finish last October in a tournament consisting of eight of the world's strongest players held in San Luis, Argentina. It is hoped that a match can be arranged between Topalov and reigning "classical" champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, whose claim to the title is by virtue of defeating then-world champion Garry Kasparov in a 14-game match held in London in the Autumn of 2000. Kramnik has been ailing with an arthritic back and has curtailed his activities since narrowly defending his title in a match with Hungary's Peter Leko in 2004.
Leko and Russian grandmaster Peter Svidler lead the tournament after four rounds with 3½ points each. Leko defeated Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine yesterday while Svidler won his game against Etienne Bacrot of France. A player is awarded a full point for each victory while draws count ½ point each.
Tournament leaders Svidler (left) and Leko played to a draw in Tuesday's action
Also participating in the tournament are Lev Aronian of Armenia and Francisco Vallejo of Spain.
The Linares tournament is an annual event that in past years has been held entirely in the Andalusian city of Linares. However, this year the first half of the tournament is being held in Morelia, the capital of the the state of Michoacán on Mexico's Pacific coast and will shift to Linares for the second half next week. Each player will play two games each against the other seven, one game as White and the other as Black.
In action scheduled for today, Leko will have Black against Bacrot, Svidler will have Black against Aronian, Topalov will play Black against Ivanchuk and Radjabov will play White against Vallejo. The
Aronian-Svidler game will be broadcast live on
ChessGames.com starting at 1:30 pm PST.
Photo from ChessBase.com.