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Francisco Vallejo Pons

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Spanish chess grandmaster (born 1982) In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Vallejo and the second or maternal family name is Pons.
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Francisco Vallejo Pons
Vallejo in 2013
CountrySpain
Born (1982-08-21) 21 August 1982 (age 42)
Mahón, Menorca, Spain
TitleGrandmaster (1999)
FIDE rating2638 (January 2025)
Peak rating2724 (July 2011)
RankingNo. 98 (January 2025)
Peak rankingNo. 18 (January 2005)

Francisco Vallejo Pons (born 21 August 1982) is a Spanish chess grandmaster. He is a five-time Spanish Chess Champion.

He achieved the Grandmaster title at the age of 16 years and 9 months. He won the under-18 World Chess Youth Championship in 2000.

He won the Ciudad de Leon Masters after defeating Veselin Topalov 3½–2½.

In 2013 he tied for first at the European Individual Championship.

Early life

The son of a soldier, he was born in Mahón and grew up in Villacarlos. Several members of his family played chess, and he learned the game from them.

Notable games

This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

On 25 February 2006 he defeated FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov in 56 moves with the black pieces at the SuperGM Linares-Morelia chess tournament.

Topalov vs. Vallejo
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Ne5 h5 12.Nxd7 Qxd7 13.Be5 Rh6 14.f3 Qe7 15.a4 a6 16.Qc2 Rd8 17.Rad1 Nd7 18.Bc7 Rc8 19.Bg3 e5 20.d5 b4 21.dxc6 Rhxc6 22.Nd5 Qe6 23.Qd2 h4 24.Bf2
(diagram 1 )
24... c3 25.bxc3 bxc3 26.Qxg5 c2 27.Rc1 h3 28.g3 Qh6 29.Qf5 Qd2 30.Rfe1 Ba3 31.f4 Bxc1 32.Bh5 Rg6 33.Bxg6 Bxd5 34.exd5
(diagram 2 )
34... Qxe1+ 35.Bxe1 Be3+ 36.Kf1 c1=Q 37.Qxf7+ Kd8 38.Ke2 Bb6 39.Bd2 Qc4+ 40.Kf3 e4+ 41.Kg4 Kc7 42.a5 Bd4 43.Bf5 Rg8+ 44.Kh4 Rh8+ 45.Kg5 Qb5 46.Be6 e3 47.Be1 e2 48.g4 Rf8 49.Qh7 Be3 50.Kh4 Bxf4 51.g5 Qa4 52.Kh5 Bxh2 53.Bxh3 Be5 54.Qd3 Rh8+ 55.Kg6 Nf8+ 56.Kf7 Kd8 (diagram 3 ) 0–1
Topalov vs. Vallejo Pons
diagram 1
hgfedcba
1g1 white kingf1 white rookd1 white rookh2 white pawng2 white pawnf2 white bishope2 white bishopd2 white queenb2 white pawnf3 white pawnh4 black pawne4 white pawnc4 black pawnb4 black pawna4 white pawng5 black pawne5 black pawnd5 white knighte6 black queenc6 black rooka6 black pawnf7 black pawnd7 black knightb7 black bishopf8 black bishope8 black kingc8 black rook1
22
33
44
55
66
77
88
hgfedcba
Position after 24.Bf2 		diagram 2
hgfedcba
1g1 white kinge1 white rookc1 black bishoph2 white pawnf2 white bishopd2 black queenc2 black pawnh3 black pawng3 white pawnf4 white pawna4 white pawnf5 white queene5 black pawnd5 white pawng6 white bishopa6 black pawnf7 black pawnd7 black knighte8 black kingc8 black rook1
22
33
44
55
66
77
88
hgfedcba
Position after 34.exd5 		diagram 3
hgfedcba
1e1 white bishope2 black pawnh3 white bishopd3 white queena4 black queeng5 white pawne5 black bishopd5 white pawna5 white pawna6 black pawnf7 white kingh8 black rookf8 black knightd8 black king1
22
33
44
55
66
77
88
hgfedcba
Final position after 56... Kd8

Retirement and return to chess

After a loss in his penultimate round against Sergey Karjakin in the 2012 Bilbao Chess Masters Final, Vallejo announced his retirement from competitive chess.

Since then he has made multiple appearances in tournaments, for instance in 2014 Bilbao Chess Masters, as well as competed in country leagues.

Vallejo participated in the Grand Prix cycle for 2017–18, after being active in 2016. Having played in the Sharjah and Moscow legs of the event, and finished in the bottom half of the field in both, he had no mathematical chance to qualify for the 2018 Candidates Tournament via the Grand Prix.

References

  1. ^ "Francisco Vallejo Pons". gmvallejo.com. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  2. "Chess Prodigies". Chess.ac. Archived from the original on 2007-10-16. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  3. "Vallejo win the jubilee Ciudad de Leon Masters 3½-2½". 11 June 2012.
  4. Crowther, Mark (2013-05-16). "14th European Individual Championships 2013". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  5. "Super GM Linares-Morelia". ChessBase. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  6. "Vallejo Pons retires". 13 October 2012.

External links


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