2005 Kings Award
People of the Province
of San Luis, Argentina
And Governor Dr Alberto Rodriguez Saa

 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.

 

ChessBase - https://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2
Chessgames -
Kasimdzhanov vs. Anand -
 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1361600
Kasimdzhanov vs. Topalov -
 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1361799
 

Chess Reporter
San Luis
I2005 MVP
I2004 Kings

1971 quarterfinal candidate - Fischer vs. Petrosian
1927 world championship match - Alekhine - Capablanca
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