Linares: Round 7 Recap, or, Let's Make it a Weekend

"And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested" - Gen 2:2 (English Standard Version)

For religious believers everywhere, God's rest on the seventh day is a model and basis of the Sabbath - a day of rest. And though not falling on a weekend, this principle was applied to the Linares participants as well: after 6 rounds, everyone got a day off.

Most Western societies have gone God one better, though - we're traditionally given not just one day off but two, and it seems the Linares participants preferred that model, as today's games were brief and bloodless. Let's hope that tomorrow's round, commencing the event's second and final cycle in this double round-robin, returns to the fighting ways of the previous rounds.

Vallejo Pons,F (2686) - Leko,P (2749) [A33]
XXII SuperGM Linares ESP (7), 02.03.2005

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.a3 Be7 7.g3 Qb6 8.e3 d5 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 exd5 11.Qb3 0-0 12.Qxb6 axb6 13.Bg2 1/2-1/2

Kasparov,G (2804) - Topalov,V (2757) [C88]
XXII SuperGM Linares ESP (7), 02.03.2005

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Na5 11.Ba2 c5 12.Nbd2 Nc6 13.Nf1 Bc8 14.c3 Be6 15.Bxe6 fxe6 16.Ng3 Nd7 17.Be3 d5 18.exd5 exd5 19.a4 Rb8 20.axb5 axb5 21.b3 Ra8 1/2-1/2

Adams,Mi (2741) - Anand,V (2786) [B90]
XXII SuperGM Linares ESP (7), 02.03.2005

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.Be2 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.a4 Nc6 10.f4 Qc7 11.Kh1 Re8 12.Bf3 Bf8 13.Qd2 Rb8 14.Qf2 e5 15.Nde2 exf4 16.Bb6 Qe7 17.Nxf4 Be6 18.Rad1 g6 19.Qd2 Ne5 20.Be2 Rbc8 21.Bf2 h6 22.h3 Rc6 23.Bh4 g5 24.Nxe6 Qxe6 25.Bg3 Nc4 26.Qd4 Bg7 27.Bxc4 Rxc4 28.Qxd6 Qxd6 1/2-1/2

Standings after Round 7: (All scores out of 6 points - don't forget that everyone had a bye round)

Kasparov 4
Anand, Topalov 3.5
Kasimdzhanov, Leko 3
Adams 2.5
Vallejo Pons 1.5

Pairings for Round 8:

Adams-Topalov
Vallejo Pons-Kasimdzhanov
Kasparov-Leko
Anand - bye