Linares 1991
The ninth edition of the Linares super-tournament gathered fourteen of the world's best in Andalusia, among them reigning World Champion Garry Kasparov and former champion Anatoly Karpov. It was the 21-year-old Ukrainian Vasyl Ivanchuk who ran away with it — beating Kasparov in the very first round and going the whole distance without a single loss to finish clear first on 9½/13.
◈A statement in round one
Linares had earned its reputation as the Wimbledon of chess — the strongest annual round-robin on the calendar — and the 1991 field lived up to it: Kasparov, Karpov, Beliavsky, Salov, Timman, Gelfand, the young Viswanathan Anand, and a 16-year-old Gata Kamsky among the fourteen. On the opening day Ivanchuk sat across from the World Champion and beat him with a quiet Canal–Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Sicilian, grinding Kasparov down in 38 moves.
That win set the tone. Ivanchuk never lost a game across the thirteen rounds, controlling the tournament from the front and finishing on 9½/13 — a half point ahead of Kasparov, who recovered to take clear second on 9.
◈Ivanchuk's second Linares crown
It was Ivanchuk's second victory in Linares, following his 1989 triumph, confirming that the tournament suited him as few others did. Alexander Beliavsky took third on 8, ahead of Artur Yusupov and Jonathan Speelman, who shared fourth on 7½. Kasparov's runner-up finish and Karpov's mid-table 6½ underlined how thoroughly the two great champions had been pushed by the rising generation.
At the foot of the table, the teenaged Kamsky (2½) and Jaan Ehlvest (3½) endured a hard fortnight against a merciless field, but the story of the event was always Ivanchuk — poised, undefeated, and by now the most dangerous of the young challengers to Kasparov's supremacy.
◈Final Standings
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | 9½/13 | +6 -0 =7 | games → |
| 2 | Kasparov, Garry | 9/13 | +6 -1 =6 | games → |
| 3 | Beliavsky, Alexander G | 8/13 | +7 -4 =2 | games → |
| 4 | Jussupow, Artur | 7½/13 | +4 -2 =7 | games → |
| 5 | Speelman, Jonathan S | 7½/13 | +3 -1 =9 | games → |
| 6 | Salov, Valery | 7/13 | +3 -2 =8 | games → |
| 7 | Karpov, Anatoly | 6½/13 | +4 -4 =5 | games → |
| 8 | Timman, Jan H | 6½/13 | +2 -2 =9 | games → |
| =9 | Anand, Viswanathan | 6/13 | +4 -5 =4 | games → |
| =9 | Gurevich, Mikhail | 6/13 | +4 -5 =4 | games → |
| 11 | Ljubojevic, Ljubomir | 6/13 | +3 -4 =6 | games → |
| 12 | Gelfand, Boris | 5½/13 | +4 -6 =3 | games → |
| 13 | Ehlvest, Jaan | 3½/13 | +1 -7 =5 | games → |
| 14 | Kamsky, Gata | 2½/13 | +2 -10 =1 | games → |
Cross Table
| Rank | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 2 | Kasparov, Garry | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 3 | Beliavsky, Alexander G | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 4 | Jussupow, Artur | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | |
| 5 | Speelman, Jonathan S | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 6 | Salov, Valery | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | |
| 7 | Karpov, Anatoly | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 8 | Timman, Jan H | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | |
| 9 | Anand, Viswanathan | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | |
| 10 | Gurevich, Mikhail | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 11 | Ljubojevic, Ljubomir | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 12 | Gelfand, Boris | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 13 | Ehlvest, Jaan | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 14 | Kamsky, Gata | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Each cell shows the row player's per-game results against the column player (in round order). ● = same player.
“Linares is sometimes described as the Wimbledon of chess, being one of the strongest annual tournaments held on the de facto chess tour.”