Francisco Vallejo Pons

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.

In 2001 he won the Capablanca Memorial.

In 2012 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 Mahon and grew up in Es Castell. Several members of his family played chess, and he learned the game from them.

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+ Topalov vs. Vallejo Pons

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.