The Week in Chess

The 25th Leon Masters went ahead in spite of the financial crisis engulfing Spain. The organisers did a truly great job keeping going for so long and didn't deserve to have their thunder stolen by the Tal Memorial. Veselin Topalov and one of his former seconds Francisco Vallejo Pons played a 6 game rapid match Friday 8th - Sunday 10th June 2012. 2 games at 45m+15spm per day. Francisco Vallejo Pons defeated Veselin Topalov 3.5-2.5. He thought he came physically well prepared and played well. However all the questions were really about Topalov who blundered badly on single moves in all his losses. Topalov, just as after his bad Wijk aan Zee event, was typically level headed. "Clearly I suffered a crisis, especially in concentration. But I'm at an age [37 years old] where it is still appropriate to continue in the elite. I hope that when I get in shape by playing more tournaments, this will improve my performance. " Indeed Topalov looks most of all desperately short of chess and he'll have to think how he is going to remedy this.