León To Host Topalov vs Vallejo Match

2012 marks the 25th Anniversary of the León chess festival in Spain, and to celebrate the occasion there will be a rapid match between Veselin Topalov and Spanish #1 Francisco Vallejo Pons.

The match will consist of 6 rapid games played over 3 days from 8-10 June. The time control will be 40 minutes plus a 25 second increment. The games will start at 16:30 and 18:40 each day.

In the event of tied scores after the six games, there will be a blitz playoff over two games at 5 minutes plus 3 second increment, and if necessary a 'sudden death' final game where white has 6 minutes against 5 minutes for black and white must win or else black is declared the winner.

Topalov is a former winner of León, but his form has slipped since he failed in his match against Vishy Anand for the world championship in 2010.  It will be interesting to see how he fares against Vallejo, who has previously worked as his second.

Veselin Topalov	Paco Vallejo