Francisco Vallejo Pons

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

Francisco Vallejo Pons
Francisco Vallejo Pons (2013)
CountrySpain
Born (1982-08-21) 21 August 1982
Es Castell, Menorca
TitleGrandmaster (1999)
FIDE rating2710 (February 2021)
(No. 33 in the August 2017 FIDE World Rankings)
Peak rating2724 (July 2011)
Peak rankingNo. 18 (January 2005)
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Vallejo and the second or maternal family name is Pons.

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 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 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 0–1

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. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8232
  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".


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