Having players who are slightly weaker than Top 10 ranking increases
the chance that there will be more decisive games. If Radjabov hadn't
beaten Kasparov last year, he might not have been given an invitation.
Vallejo is a native born Spanish player, and complements Shirov as the
representative of Spanish hopes. It would have been great to see Judit
Polgar play at Linares 2004. I expect that she would have continued
her good form, and finished well in the event. Topalov will offer
fighting chess, but Leko and Kramnik have a more cautious style that
tends to lead to draws at the Super GM level. Bareev, Grischuk, or
Gelfand are great players, but would they really make the event more
memorable? Once the organizers resolve to not try to hold a "highest
Category" event, then they have more leeway. Linares tried to grab the
top 6 rated players throughout the '90s--the organizers probably feel:
"Been there, done that"




(raylopez99) wrote in message . com...
I see that Paco Vallejo was once again invited to Linares; last year
too right? Vallejo and Radjobov (won a game from Kasparov who
blundered--big deal) are weak--so why couldn't they get Anand? Are
they trying to get an even number of players? Is this a Swiss or
round-robin?

I think Linares organizers are weak. I would have liked to see Polgar
or some others play. The organizers should rely on the Net to get
contributions, or on Las Vegas betters, to make donations (bets),
played in Monte Carlo, so we can see the best play the best.

We need a "Don King" of chess. I think the boys at
rec.games.chess.politics can qualify.

Here are some better players than Vallejo and the other guy:


4 Bareev, Evgeny.................. g RUS 2739 11 21.11.66
5 Shirov, Alexei.................. g ESP 2737 2 04.07.72
6 Topalov, Veselin................ g BUL 2735 0 15.03.75
7 Grischuk, Alexander............. g RUS 2732 0 31.10.83
8 Adams, Michael.................. g ENG 2725 10 17.11.71
9 Svidler, Peter.................. g RUS 2723 0 17.06.76
10 Leko, Peter..................... g HUN 2722 10 08.09.79
11 Polgar, Judit (GM).............. wg HUN 2722 9 23.07.76
12 Ponomariov, Ruslan.............. g UKR 2718 0 11.10.83
13 Ivanchuk, Vassily............... g UKR 2710 0 18.03.69
14 Dreev, Alexey................... g RUS 2705 9 30.01.69
15 Gelfand, Boris.................. g ISR 2703 11 24.06.68
16 Morozevich, Alexander........... g RUS 2702 10 18.07.77
17 Short, Nigel D.................. g ENG 2701 0 01.06.65


RL

Linares 2004

The lineup for Linares 2004 looks like being Gary Kasparov 2830
Vladimir Kramnik 2770 Veselin Topalov Peter Leko 2722 Alexei Shirov
2737 Paco Vallejo 2662 Teimour Radjabov 2650.