Vladimir Kramnik won in Linares, but a plethora of short draws left him with an ‘unpleasant feeling’.

Sergey Rublevsky will remember the third Aeroflot Open in superlatives.

Amber co-winner Alexander Morozevich once again excelled in the blindfold.

Garry Kasparov claimed the flowers at the Reykjavik Rapid 2004.

SOS: Réti 3...e5!? - Unhinging your opponent

Content

LINARES! LINARES?
Vladimir Kramnik became the sole winner of the 21st Ciudad de Linares by winning two games and drawing the remaining ten, the majority of which barely lasted twenty moves. The winner is always the deserved winner, to quote a Kramnik dictum, but this time the winner too admitted that this plethora of short draws had left him with an unpleasant feeling.
The prize for the most combative player was rightly awarded to Garry Kasparov who deserved praise for his unremitting fighting spirit. And there was more gripping chess as you will see in our spectacular games selection.

CHESS AND THE MOVIES
Researching for their book Bobby Fischer Goes To War, David Edmonds and John Eidinow watched dozens of movies in which chess makes a showing.

AEROFLOT ROULETTE
With more than 150 grandmasters playing in the biggest hotel in the world, the third Aeroflot Open was a tournament of superlatives. Sergey Rublevsky, who won the 25,000 dollar first prize and an invitation to Dortmund, will certainly remember this highpoint in his career in superlatives, but what about the others?

ANATOLY’S TOURNAMENT
Alexander Grischuk won the annual tribute to the twelfth world champion in faraway Poikovsky.

MORO MAGIC AND CLASSIC KRAMNIK
With ten players from the world’s top 15, including the winners from Wijk aan Zee and Linares, the 13th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament in Monaco was stronger than ever. Vladimir Kramnik shared victory in the overall competition with Alexander Morozevich, whose daredevil chess didn’t stop him from finishing first in the blindfold too.

THE MORPHEUS VARIATION
‘Scientists have calculated that only two out of ten people enjoy deep, healthy sleep. I wouldn’t be surprised if chess players, by the very nature of their activity, do not even reach that percentage.’ Genna Sosonko reflects on the boons of a good night’s rest and on dreams as an analytical tool.

SADLER ON BOOKS

S.O.S.: A SURPRISE IN THE RÉTI
When you play black against the Réti equalizing is perhaps not your biggest worry. Unhinging your opponent is a lot trickier, though.
Jeroen Bosch provides a few suggestions.

EVENTFUL WEEKS IN ICELAND
With a shared first place in the Reykjavik Open Jan Timman prolonged his stay in the Icelandic capital, as he qualified for the Reykjavik Rapid 2004. Here Garry Kasparov claimed victory in a tumultuous final against his old rival Nigel Short.

JUST CHECKING
Any idea who Peter Svidler would have liked to be if he hadn’t been himself?

Did they play your opening?

In this issue games with the following openings were annotated by world class players:

Sicilian
Svidler-Vallejo, by Nunn
Anand-Vallejo, by Nunn
Leko-Kasparov, by Leko
Morozevich-Topalov, by Nunn
Short-Kasparov, by Timman
Ivanchuk-Leko, by Nunn
Sulskis-Van Wely, by Van Wely
Kramnik-Leko, by Kramnik
Leko-Kramnik, by Kramnik

French
Anand-Morozevich, by Morozevich

Caro-Kann
Rublevsky-Asrian, by Rublevsky

Ruy Lopez
Kramnik-Topalov, by Nunn
Kasparov-Shirov, by Shirov
Kasparov-Topalov, by Dokhoian
Grischuk-Sokolov, by Grischuk

Scotch Opening
Rublevsky-Lautier, by Rublevsky

Queen's Gambit Declined
Lautier-Vaganian, by Vaganian

Slav
Rustemov-Movsesian, by Rustemov
Bologan-Grischuk, by Bologan
Kasparov-Vallejo, by Dokhoian
Mamedyarov-Timofeev, by Notkin

Nimzo-Indian
Ramirez-Sadvakasov, by Sadvakasov
Carlsen-Shaposhnikov, by Carlsen

Grünfeld-Indian
Radjabov-Shirov, by Radjabov

King's Indian
Shirov-Radjabov, by Shirov
Malakhov-Zviagintsev, by Zviagintsev