Gelfand wins 23rd Ciudad de Leon Chess Tourney

June 6 was a super Sunday for Boris Gelfand. He won the 23rd Ciudad de Leon beating Levon Aronian. Earlier, the Israeli grandmaster had knocked out Francisco Vallejo Pons from the first semi-final held on Friday.

The 23rd Ciudad de Leon was organized from June 4 to 7 in Leon, Spain. Each match consisted of four rapid games with a time control of 20 minutes plus 10 seconds increment, and if necessary two blitz games (5 minutes plus 2 seconds increment) and one sudden-death game (4 minutes for White versus 5 minutes for Black).

The match on Friday made Paco Vallejo use all his strength but he could not break through GM Gelfand's defenses.

“One could say that I played as I never did and lost as I always did. I had prepared thoroughly, and I’ve played pretty well, but without precision in some crucial moments,” Vallejo told the media.

GM Gelfand was magnanimous in victory and said, "It was a very hard duel. In fact, Vallejo has talent and potential to be among the top ten in the world, and it lacks little to do. Basically, work every day and build up a little more experience. That has always been my method, I know of no other to be effective.”

GM Gelfand also praised the city of Leon for "its charm because of its different architectural styles." He said, "Yesterday I had a long walk, and it was very pleasant.”

Here's a very nice game that Gelfand (playing Black) won against Aronian (white) that I found on the web:

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. b3 Bd6 6. Bb2 O-O 7. Be2 dxc4 8. Bxc4b5 9. Bd3 Bb7 10. Ne4 Nxe4 11. Bxe4 f512. Bd3 Nd7 13. h4 Qe7 14. g4 c5 15. gxf5 exf5 16. Bxb5 Ne5 17. Bxe5 Bxe518. Rc1 f4 19. O-O fxe3 20. fxe3 Rxf3 21. Rxf3 Qxh4 22. e4 Bxe4 23. Bc4+ Kh8 0-1

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

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