All info on Morelia/Linares 2008
14 February 2008 12:19 PM | Last modified: 20:23
Morelia/Linares 2008 | Final Standings
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | ||||||
| 1 | Anand,V | 2799 | +26 | ** | 1½ | 0½ | ½½ | ½½½ | ½½ | 1½ | 11 | 8.5 | |
| 2 | Carlsen,M | 2733 | +75 | 0½ | ** | 1½ | 11 | 0 | ½1 | ½0 | ½1 | 8.0 | |
| 3 | Aronian,L | 2739 | +43 | 1½ | 0½ | ** | 01 | ½½ | 1½ | ½½ | ½½ | 7.5 | 52.00 |
| 4 | Topalov,V | 2780 | -2 | ½½ | 00 | 10 | ** | ½½ | 1½ | 11 | 01 | 7.5 | 49.25 |
| 5 | Radjabov,T | 2735 | +23 | ½½ | 1½ | ½½ | ½½ | ** | ½½ | -0½ | 01 | 7.0 | |
| 6 | Ivanchuk,V | 2751 | -19 | ½½ | ½0 | 0½ | 0½ | ½½ | ** | 11 | ½½ | 6.5 | |
| 7 | Leko,P | 2755 | -72 | 0½ | ½1 | ½½ | 00 | 1½ | 00 | ** | ½½ | 5.5 | 39.75 |
| 8 | Shirov,A | 2753 | -74 | 00 | ½0 | ½½ | 10 | 1 | ½½ | ½½ | ** | 5.5 | 38.00 |
All results:
How can you follow the tournament?
- ChessVibes will provide daily coverage on Morelia and video coverage during the (complete!) Linares part of the tournament.
- Videos by Macauley.
- Live commentary via Playchess, ICC, Chessdom and ChessPro.
- The best analysis can be found at Crestbook (GM Sergei Shipov).
- Very quick service is always provided by TWIC.
- (Photo) reports and analysis by GM Dorian Rogozenko at Chessbase.
Morelia/Linares is an eight-player, double round-robin and is held from February 14 till March 8. Participants are Anand, Aronian, Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Leko, Radjabov, Shirov and Topalov.
The first part takes place 14-23 February in the Mexican city of Morelia, after which the players fly to Spain for the second part of the tournament: February 28 - March 8 in Linares.
Playing Schedule Morelia/Linares 2008
| Morelia (Mexico) | Linares (Spain) | |||
| Thursday, February 14 | OPENING | Thursday, February 28 | Round 8 | |
| Friday, February 15 | Round 1 | Friday, February 29 | Round 9 | |
| Saturday, February 16 | Round 2 | Saturday, March 1 | Round 10 | |
| Sunday, February 17 | Round 3 | Sunday, March 2 | REST DAY | |
| Monday, February 18 | REST DAY | Monday, March 3 | Round 11 | |
| Tuesday, February 19 | Round 4 | Tuesday, March 4 | Round 12 | |
| Wednesday, February 20 | Round 5 | Wednesday, March 5 | REST DAY | |
| Thursday, February 21 | REST DAY | Thursday, March 6 | Round 13 | |
| Friday, February 22 | Round 6 | Friday, March 7 | Round 14 | |
| Saturday, February 23 | Round 7 | Saturday, March 8 | CLOSING |
The rounds will be played at 15:30 hrs local time. In Morelia, this means 16:30 EST | 21:30 GMT | 22:30 CET. In Linares, this means 08:30 EST | 14:30 GTM | 15:30 CET.
PLAYER PROFILES
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Name: Viswanathan Anand
Country: India |
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| Name: Veselin Topalov Country: Bulgaria Born: 15 March 1975 FIDE-rating: 2780 Ranking: 3rd Strong point: Fighter. Will to win. Doesn’t fear hard core theory. Personally responsible for the end of Kasparov’s career, three years ago. (Won, together with The Boss, in 2005). Weak point: Aftermath-gate (perhaps not a weak point anymore). And: slow-starter; it always takes some time before he realizes he’s a terribly strong tournament player. |
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Name: Alexei Shirov Country: Spain Born: 4 July 1972 FIDE-rating: 2755 Ranking: 7th Strong point: Incredible talent for the adventurous. According to the experts, he played the prettiest move ever. Might have started a second youth, if we take Khanty-Mansyisk into account. Weak point: Finished (shared) last no less than four times in Linares. Has a tendency for pyromania every now and then. |
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| Name: Peter Leko Country: Hungary Born: 8 September 1979 FIDE-rating: 2753 Ranking: 8th Strong point: Solid fellow. Loses very rarely. Nice bloke. Weak point: Too much of a nice bloke. Likes to win, prefers not to lose. Has his own father-in-law as a second, isn’t that asking for trouble? |
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Name: Vassily Ivanchuk Country: Ukraine Born: 18 March 1969 FIDE-rating: 2751 Ranking: 9th Strong point: Experienced and unpredictable. Had won this tournament already before one of the participants was born. (Three times actually: 1989, 1991 and 1995). Weak point: Oldest participant. Hasn’t won a super tournament for a while. Said to have difficulties with pressure, despite torso. |
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| Name: Levon Aronian Country: Armenia Born: 6 October 1982 FIDE-rating: 2739 Ranking: 10th Strong point: Huge talent. Coming up with the toughest moves is like brushing his teeth. Won Corus. Weak point: Tends to forget to think at critical moments. Loves bughouse, which might lead to reckless sacrifices. |
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Name: Teimour Radjabov Country: Azerbaidzhan Born: 12 March 1987 FIDE-rating: 2735 Ranking: 12th Strong point: Young, energetic, fighter, will to win. Is playing the King’s Indian almost as successfully as Kasparov. Speaks (and thinks!?) quicker than his shadow. Weak point: Tends to not keep an eye on his laptop. Doesn’t like the Armenian snack semushka. |
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| Name: Magnus Carlsen Country: Norway Born: 30 November 1990 FIDE-rating: 2733 Ranking: 13th Strong point: Biggest talent in the world. Said to rarely analyse his own games, and spending more time on tennis courts, and yet wins Corus shared, at 17 years old. Will be more successful than Michael Chang. Weak point: his backhand. |
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MORELIA
Morelia is the capital of the Mexican state of Michoacán de Ocampo. The city has a population of approximately 6,00,000 600,000 inhabitants and is the seat of the municipality of Morelia.
The city’s historic downtown area which houses more than 1000 colonial buildings and churches became a World Heritage Site in 1991. Famous buildings in the centre are the cathedral, the Casa del Arte, the colonial aquaduct and the birth place of fighter for independence José MarÃa Morelos, to whom the town was named in 1828. (Wikipedia)
Somewhere between February 23 and 28, the players will fly to Spanje. In Linares, where this top event has been organised for many years, the second half of the tournament will be played.
LINARES
Linares is a city located in the Andalusian province of Jaén, Spain. With its approximately 60,000 inhabitants, it’s about ten times as small as Morelia. It’s famous for being the birthplace of both Andrés Segovia and the singer Raphael.
The hotel Anibal, where the tournament is always taking place, has the same name as the model as the terrain-vehicle produced by car company Santana Motor, which makes vehicles for the Spanish army and is located in Linares (Wikipedia).





















Where can I find pairings?
Go Magnus!
The pairings aren’t available yet. We will add them to this page as soon as possible.
Magnus - Ivanchuk in the first round
Go anand…
Qb3!!
Las partidas de Morelia empiezan a las 21.30 GMT, creo que está mal en la tabla de chessvibes.
Hoy empiezan las partidas disfrutemos
Gracias, “Partidas de ajedrez comentadas” (qual es su nombre??
), es corregido.
Me llamo Pedro y os agradezco el seguimiento que hacéis de los torneos, para nosotros los aficionados es muy importante que alguien nos permita disfrutar de nuestra afición.
En mi web recoja algunas partidas y las analizo para aficionados y para clases de iniciación al ajedrez y a veces os pillo análisis,
Un saludo y gracias
In which site can I find live games?
Anand acaba de ganar con negras a Shirov
Topalov is coming back to the top! He’ll smash them all, remember my words!
Levon jan! Go ahead, you are the best!!!
Do it Armenian!!!!!
Told ya! Topa is the best!
All the players are great but Anand is the best!
Someone seems awfully silent the last two days…
Does anyone have information on how tall the various chess players are? Topalov looks rather small, compared to Carlsen, judging from their picture.
Great tournament so far. Very exciting. Might be the peppers in the Mexican food but i think it is the style of the players. When i saw the lineup i knew we’ll see a lot of fight. I was sure we’ll have a lot of decisive games with players like Anand, Topalov, Shirov, Carlsen, Aronian, Radjabov and Ivanchuk. I taught first that Leko might be the black sheep of the tournament regarding excitement but i must say he impressed me in this tournament. He played a different chess, he was taking more risks than before. Unfortunately it backfired on him but i hope this won’t discourage him of trying to play more aggressively in the future.
Bottom line: one of the best, most entertaining tournament i have seen in years.
Thanks to the players!
HetMes: Yeah, a witty remark about silence
However, Topa is heading to Olymp again
As for your interest in heights: Topa is 1.78 cm… Anand is 1.85 cm…. the tallest as I know is Kramnik who is 1.92 cm
Hi, Congrats for the good work. I believe i found an error on the page http://www.chessvibes.com/tournaments/all-info-on-morelia-linares-2008/
According to the Morelia results table Carlsen beat Radjabov but I believe it went the other way around, didn´t it?
cheers,
gunther
yes, thanks, that was a mistake - corrected now.
Thanks moonkid, how do you know about the players’ heights?
On all sites incl. your site, the link “TOURNAMENTSITE” still leads to the Mexican site. Isn’t there any Tournamentsite at Linares in Spain ?
Regards Horst
The link to Chessbase above links to TWIC instead.
Oops. Corrected now.
Here’s the link I found but doesn’t seem to be working: http://www.ajedrez.ciudaddelinares.es/
Great info, tks!
Indeling ronde 13 en 14 zijn per abuis verwisseld.
Dank, verbeterd.