1/2006 - Argentina has been the place of many world championship matches
and tournaments. In 1927, it hosted the Capablanca vs. Alekhine match.
Alekhine stunned the world and Capablanca by winning the title by a 6-3
score. Lets not forget about the Fischer vs. Petrosian final candidate match
of 1971. Fischer continued his world dominance by winning the match with a
6.5-2.5 score.
In September 2005, San Luis, Argentina was the stage for a double
round robin FIDE
World Championship. Eight of the top players in the world were on the
highway to San
Luis, a category-20 tournament, consisting of Veselin Topalov, Vishy
Anand, Peter Leko, Peter Svidler, Alexander Morozevich, Judith Polgar,
Michael Adams and Rustam Kasimdzhanov. From this group, a new chess king
would emerge.
Veselin Topalov would win the triple crown at San Luis. He would
win the FIDE Championship, break the 2800-rating-barrier, and become the
number one rated player in the world. This was an exciting tournament and it
far exceeded expectations in every way. Of the 56 games played, 24 were
decisive.
There were many highs and lows in this tournament. We saw the agony
of defeat in round one, when Peter Leko blew a winning position and lost
against Topalov. Had Leko won that game, how the outcome of this tournament
could have changed?
We saw a stunning upset in round 4, when Kasimdzhanov crushed Anand in
38 moves. We saw the steely nerves from cool-hand-tope in round two's epoch
97-move draw against Anand. Topalov kept his cool, despite Anand being one
move away from queening a pawn. 15 moves were played before Topalov finally
took Anand's advanced-pawn. Anand heroic defense prevented Topalov from bringing
home the full point. We saw Topalov pull away early with a 5 game winning
streak in rounds 3 thru 7.
No question, San Luis was an exciting chess championship tournament. With
Kasparov's retirement in 2005 and the death of Prague, San Luis brought much
needed clarity to the chess world.
Para las personas de San Luis, muchas gracias.
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