Chess
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Your support makes all the difference.This position comes from a new collection of the best games of the 25-year-old Latvian grandmaster Alexei Shirov. Fire on Board (Cadogan Chess, pounds 17.99) will probably not be a great commercial success - experience suggests that you have to be a world champion before a volume of your best games will sell in great numbers - but anyone looking for sheer excitement will not be disappointed by this book.
The diagram position may look like an endgame, but, as Shirov reveals in his notes, it was in fact part of his opening preparation! It's extraordinary how far your opening preparation has to go when you play the Botvinnik System of the Queen's Gambit as Black.
The game in question continued a dispute in one of the sharpest lines. White offers a piece with 16.Rb1 which Black dare not take. White then offers a bishop and rook to barge down to e7 with a pawn. At the time the game was played, 19.Qd5 was considered to be a winning move (a few months later it was decided that 19.Kxf1 is probably better). Play followed known theory up to move 26, when Shirov allowed a series of exchanges that had been thought to lead to a won endgame for White.
In the diagram position, White's plan is to play Kg5, f4, h5 and g4. Black must then play Bh7 to prevent f5 and h6, but that gives White the chance to play Kh6 and Kg7.
Working on this at home, Shirov came up with the plan of 33...Bc6! followed by Bf3! to prevent f4. White cannot reached his desired formation and, as the game went, could even have lost by playing 40.h6? Be4 41.f4 Bh7.
White: Z Azmaiparashvili
Black: Alexei Shirov
Madrid, 1996
1 d4 d5 22 exd8Q Rd8
2 c4 c6 23 Re1 bxc3
3 Nf3 Nf6 24 Bf4 Qb6
4 Nc3 e6 25 bxc3 Bf5
5 Bg5 dxc4 26 h4 Qb7
6 e4 b5 27 Qxb7+ Kb7
7 e5 h6 28 Re7+ Rd7
8 Bh4 g5 29 Bxb8 Kxb8
9 Nxg5 hxg5 30 Rxd7 Bxd7
10 Bxg5 Nbd7 31 Kg2 Kc7
11 exf6 Bb7 32 Kf3 Kd6
12 g3 c5 33 Kf4 Bc6
13 d5 Qb6 34 Kg5 Bf3
14 Bg2 0-0-0 35 Kf5 Kd5
15 0-0 b4 36 g4 Kd6
16 Rb1 Qa6 37 h5 Kd5
17 dxe6 Bxg2 38 Kf4 Bd1
18 e7 Bxf1 39 Kg5 Bf3
19 Qd5 Bh6 40 Kf4 Bd1
20 Bxh6 Bd3 41 Kg5 Bf3
21 Qa8+ Nb8 42 Kf4 draw
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