Francisco Vallejo Pons
Vallejo in 2013
CountrySpain
Born (1982-08-21) 21 August 1982
Es Castell, Menorca, Spain
TitleGrandmaster (1999)
FIDE rating2653 (January 2024)
Peak rating2724 (July 2011)
RankingNo. 84 (January 2024)
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.[1] He won the under-18 World Chess Youth Championship in 2000.

He won the Ciudad de Leon Masters after defeating Veselin Topalov 3½–2½.[2]

In 2013 he tied for first at the European Individual Championship.[3]

Notable games

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.[4]

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
abcdefgh
8
c8 black rook
e8 black king
f8 black bishop
b7 black bishop
d7 black knight
f7 black pawn
a6 black pawn
c6 black rook
e6 black queen
d5 white knight
e5 black pawn
g5 black pawn
a4 white pawn
b4 black pawn
c4 black pawn
e4 white pawn
h4 black pawn
f3 white pawn
b2 white pawn
d2 white queen
e2 white bishop
f2 white bishop
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
d1 white rook
f1 white rook
g1 white king
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Position after 24.Bf2
diagram 2
abcdefgh
8
c8 black rook
e8 black king
d7 black knight
f7 black pawn
a6 black pawn
g6 white bishop
d5 white pawn
e5 black pawn
f5 white queen
a4 white pawn
f4 white pawn
g3 white pawn
h3 black pawn
c2 black pawn
d2 black queen
f2 white bishop
h2 white pawn
c1 black bishop
e1 white rook
g1 white king
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Position after 34.exd5
diagram 3
abcdefgh
8
d8 black king
f8 black knight
h8 black rook
f7 white king
a6 black pawn
a5 white pawn
d5 white pawn
e5 black bishop
g5 white pawn
a4 black queen
d3 white queen
h3 white bishop
e2 black pawn
e1 white bishop
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Final position after 56... Kd8

Retirement and return to chess

After a painful loss in his penultimate round against Sergey Karjakin in the 2012 Bilbao Chess Masters Final, Vallejo announced his retirement from competitive chess.[5]

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