No Linares this year

There will be no super-tournament in Linares this year. At first the event was postponed till the fall. However, the organisers had difficulties in finding a venue in another country (which would cover a share of the costs) and couldn't find dates in the chess calendar. The next edition will be in March 2012.

Many chess fans have been wondering what happened to the super-tournament of Linares, Spain. In recent years it was always held in February, but not this time. The organisers still haven't communicated anything official, but it was confirmed to us that it's off for 2011. "Yes, it is right. Linares Chess Tournament will not take place in 2011. We are planning Linares 2012 for the second half of March," Paco Albalate told us.

More details can be found at ideal.es. They report that

[d]ifficulties in finding a venue in another country, which would cover a share of the costs, and difficulties in holding the intercontinental tournament at a date which would guarantee the presence of at least four of the best players in the world, led to this decision.

Clearly the financial crisis, which has hit the Spanish economy hard, also resulted in difficulties to find funds for the famous chess tournament. Besides, after postponing the tournament to the fall, it turned out to be impossible to find dates.

Inspection of the international tournament calendar to organise it before the end of 2011, and contact with FIDE have made clear that any time between now and December would be infeasible. [Some players] already have commitments to chess tournaments in Bilbao and China, in addition to major FIDE tournaments.

The chess lovers in Linares didn't want to cancel a major chess event this year altogether. They are planning to organise the Spanish Championship in October, and the Spanish Chess Federation sees Linares as "the perfect location".