[BrianWall-ChessList] Wow!

[Brian Wall]

World Cup,
Round 5


Everyone knows I have been a huge Shirov fan for 10 years. After the opening
Shirov and Svidler surprised me with one wow move after another. Somehow
Svidler survive the onslaught and maintained all his positional trumps. Each
move was a surprise.



[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk RUS"]
[Date "2009.11.30"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Shirov,A"]
[Black "Svidler,P"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[ChessCat "CHESSCAT 1.0"]
[ECO "D86"]
[EventDate "2009.11.21"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[WhiteElo "2719"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5
8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 O-O 10.O-O Qc7 11.Rc1 Rd8 12.Bf4 Be5!  13.Bg3

26 minutes spent by my hero Shirov

Played once before,
13 B:e5!!! played 5 times starting 30 years ago
No one has tried Rybka's   13 Qd2!!  B:f4  14 N:f4!
or 14 g3!

13 ... Bxg3!!  TN Svidler

An improvement over  13  ... cd  14  cd!  played once 15 years ago

14.hxg3

Rybka thinks  14  fg, N:g3  or hg
are roughly equivalent with an equal game

14 ... e5

23 minutes spent by 4 time Russian champ Svidler

15 d5!!  looks natural to me but Shirov doesn't do that

15.Bd5!   Be6

15 ... Ne7  or  ... Bg4
are also equal

They have used about half an hour each so far.

16.dxe5

16 B:e6  fe
is also about equal

16 ... Bxd5

16 ... N:e5!  is good


17.exd5!  Nxe5!  18.c4!  a6! 19.Re1!

18 minutes spent by Shirov

19  a4!!  is natural

19 ...  b5!!

14 minutes spent by Svidler

20.cxb5!  axb5!  21.Nc3!

The game has stayed even so far but now things get wild.

21 ... c4!?  22.Qd4!?

20 minutes spent by Tal's young pupil Shirov

Shirov didn't think he could convert his microedge pawn after
22 N:b5!   Qc5 ( or  ... Qa5, ... Qb6, ... Qd7  or ... Qd7 )
23  R:e5  Q:b5 24  Qe2  Rac8  25  Qf3  Qc5

27 ... Nd3!! 23.Ne4!

Of course Shirov is not going to play  23 N:b5!!
with compensation for the exchange when he rejected
that one move ago in better circumstances.

23 ... Qa7!!

rejecting a draw with
23 ... N:e1!  24  Nf6+  Kf8  25  N:h7+  Kg8  26  Nf6+


24.Nf6+!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------

24 Qc3!
gave more comp for the inevitable exchange loss.
The position lends itself to Wow! potential because
there are so many options before Svidler just takes
a Rook.
24 Qc3   Qa3  25 Qd4  Qf8  26  g4  N:c1  27  R:c1
and Shirov is still throwing punches after
27 ... R:a2  28 Nf6+  Kh8  29 g5  or
27 ... Ra6 28 a4!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
24 Qc3    f5  25 Nf6+  only move   Kf7!  26 N:h7  only move  Q:f2+
27  Kh2  Qb2!!  28 Ng5+  Kg8
forces a favorable ending for Petar


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
24 ...  Kh8! 25.Qh4  only move  Kg7!  26.Re3

14 minutes spent by Shirov,
leaving 7 for move 40

26 Nh5+  Kf8!!  27 Re3!  N:c1?  28 Qf6! draws but
26 Nh5+  Kf8!!  27 Re3!  Rd6!!
preventing  Qf6 wins

26 ... Rd6!!
Only winning move

10 minutes spent by Svidler,
leaving 19 for move 40


27.Rf3!  h6!

It's hard to follow all this -
material is now even but Svidler
is winning on coodination -
... Ne5 is one threat,
overloading the Rook on f3


28.Ne4 Rxd5

28 ... g5!!  or  ... Ra6!
also work

29.Qf6+!  Kg8!

Time until move 40
Shirov - 4 minutes
Svidler - 18 minutes

GM Svidler is a pawn up,
good harmony, weak a-pawn,
nice d3-Knight, possibly two
connected passed pawns,
more time.


30.Rc3?  Ne5!! 31.Rf4!  Qxa2!  32.Kh2!  Qe2 33.Qh4 Ra6!
34.g4?  g5!!  35.Nxg5 hxg5! 36.Qxg5+!  Rg6!

0-1

What happened this game?
Rather than accept the better of a
draw Shirov went for complications,
as is his nature.
It seems that while Shirov was whipping up a batch
of confusion stew for 20 minutes, Svidler was on
the same page, defending quickly and well.
Svidler ignored the hanging Rooks and focussed
on activating and centralizing his pieces.
Eventually Shirov's attack ran out of gas,
leaving Svidler with the powerful formation -
b5-c4-Nd3. There was no time or tricks left
for Alexei and his position collapsed.

For me each move was an unexpected shock.
Exciting to watch.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk RUS"]
[Date "2009.11.30"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Shirov,A"]
[Black "Svidler,P"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[ChessCat "CHESSCAT 1.0"]
[ECO "D86"]
[EventDate "2009.11.21"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[WhiteElo "2719"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 Nc6
9.Be3 O-O 10.O-O Qc7 11.Rc1 Rd8 12.Bf4 Be5 13.Bg3 Bxg3 14.hxg3 e5 15.Bd5 Be6
16.dxe5 Bxd5 17.exd5 Nxe5 18.c4 a6 19.Re1 b5 20.cxb5 axb5 21.Nc3 c4 22.Qd4 Nd3
23.Ne4 Qa7 24.Nf6+ Kh8 25.Qh4 Kg7 26.Re3 Rd6 27.Rf3 h6 28.Ne4 Rxd5 29.Qf6+ Kg8
30.Rc3 Ne5 31.Rf4 Qxa2 32.Kh2 Qe2 33.Qh4 Ra6 34.g4 g5 35.Nxg5 hxg5 36.Qxg5+ Rg6
0-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The only other game with 13 Bg3

[Event "Oberliga Nord O 9394"]
[Site "Germany"]
[Date "1994.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Albrecht, Rainer"]
[Black "Trenner, Rolf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2285"]
[BlackElo "2285"]
[Annotator "Joe Eversole Variation of the English Opening"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "1993.10.??"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1998.11.10"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 c5 7. Bc4 Bg7 8.
Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Qc7 11. Rc1 Rd8 12. Bf4 Be5 13. Bg3 cxd4 14. cxd4
Qb6 15. Rb1 Qc7 16. Qb3 Nxd4 17. Nxd4 Rxd4 18. Bxf7+ Kh8 19. Rbc1 Qd6 20. Qb5
Bxg3 21. Qe8+ Kg7 22. Qg8+ Kh6 23. Qf8+ Kg5 24. fxg3 e5 25. h4+ Kh5 26. Bd5 Qb6
27. Kh2 1-0