By Lubomir Kavalek
Monday, July 21, 2008

At his best, Alexei Shirov is the most creative of chess players. He leaves his victims speechless with imaginative attacks, breathtaking and astonishing combinations, and elegant and precise endgame play. In 1998 Shirov defeated Vladimir Kramnik, qualifying for the world championship match against Garry Kasparov. A collapse of that match weighed heavily on Shirov for the next decade and affected his play. Not anymore.

Last week, at the ninth Anatoly Karpov all-grandmaster tournament in Poikovsky, Russia, Shirov shared first place with Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan and two Russians, Dmitry Jakovenko and Sergei Rublevsky -- each scoring 5 1/2 points in nine games.

We saw the old Shirovian magic in his game against Russia's Ernesto Inarkiev. Sacrificing a knight and both rooks in the Slav defense, the Latvian-born grandmaster, who lives in Spain, created a wonderful attacking masterpiece.

Inarkiev-Shirov

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c6 3.c4 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Be2 Nbd7 8.0-0 Ne4!? (Shirov begins a knight dance, hoping to open the h-file. Black can also try to equalize with either 8...Bd6 or 8...dxc4.) 9.g3 Nd6 10.b3 (10.c5 Nf5 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.b4 was preferable.) 10...Be7 11.Nxg6 hxg6 (Shirov achieved his aim: The h-file is open.) 12.Qc2 Nf6 13.Rd1 Qc7 14.Bf1 0-0-0 (Intending to double the rooks on the h-file.) 15.Bg2 Rh5 16.c5 Nf5 17.h3 (Is white threatening the fork 18.g4?)

17...Rdh8!! (Ignoring the fork, Shirov is in his element. The magic begins.) 18.e4 (After 18.g4 black can play 18...Rxh3!, for example 19.gxf5 Qh2+ 20.Kf1 gxf5 21.Bxh3 Rxh3 22.Ke2 Ng4! with strong pressure; or 19.Bxh3 Rxh3 20.gxf5 Qh2+ 21.Kf1 Rf3! 22.a4 Ng4 23.Ra2 Bh4, piling up his pieces on the pawn on f2 decisively, since 24.Rd2 loses to 24...Rxe3!) 18...dxe4 19.Bf4?! (White would be better off with 19.Nxe4, although after 19...Nd5 20.g4 Rxh3 black's attack is quite strong.) 19...Qd8 (Shirov has grand plans for his queen. Otherwise, 19...Nxd4 20.Rxd4 e5 would give him the edge.) 20.g4 Rxh3 21.gxf5 (After 21.Bxh3 Nxd4 22.Rxd4 Qxd4 23.Rd1 Qxc5 black has plenty of pawns for the piece.) 21...Rxc3! (This exchange sacrifice wins time for the attack.) 22.Qxc3 Nd5 23.Qc1 (After 23.Qg3 Bh4 wins.)

23...gxf5 (A quiet move in the middle of the storm. Shirov can combine an invasion along the h-file with a pawn avalanche against the white king.) 24.Kf1 Rh4 25.Be5 Qh8 26.Ke1 (The power of black's assault is demonstrated in this variation: 26.Qc2 Bg5 27.Ke2 Qh5+ 28.Ke1 Rh1+ 29.Bxh1 Qxh1+ 30.Ke2 Qf3+ 31.Ke1 Nb4 32.Qe2 Qh1+ 33.Qf1 Nc2+ 34.Ke2 Qf3 mate.) 26...Rg4! 27.Bf1 Rg1 28.Qc4 (After 28.Bg3, the spectacular sacrifice of the second rook 28...Rxg3!! decides, for example 29.fxg3 Qh2! and black's three pieces will overpower white's passive army, e.g. 30.Qd2 Qxg3+ 31.Qf2 Qc3+ 32.Ke2 Bh4! 33.Qg1 Nf4 mate.) 28...Qh4 (Threatening 29...Ne3.) 29.Ke2 (After 29.Kd2 Qxf2+ 30.Kc1 Bg5+ 31.Kb1 Ne3 wins; and 29.Qe2 Nc3 30.Bg3 Qh6 31.Qc4 Nxd1 32.Rxd1 f4 is hopeless for white.) 29...Bg5! (The white king is locked in. The mating attack follows.) 30.Rdb1 f4 (Black can win as he pleases with either 30...e3! 31.fxe3 Qg4+ 32.Kd2 Bxe3+ 33.Kc2 Rg2+!, mating soon; or 30...Qh5+ 31.Ke1 Qh3 32.Bg3 Nb4!, threatening 33...Nd3+.) 31.Rb2 f3+ 32.Kd1 e3 33.Ke1 e2 34.Rxe2 Rxf1+! (After 35.Kxf1 Qh1 mates.) White resigned.

Solution to today's three-mover by C. Behting (White: Ke8,Qg1.Bf5,Na3,P:b6; Black: Kd5,P:b7,c5,d6) 1.Bh7 Kc6 2.Qb1 d5 (2...c4 3.Qb5 mate; 2...Kd5 3.Qe4 mate) 3.Qg6 mate; or 1...c4 2.Qg5+ Kd4 (2...Kc6 3.Qb5 mate.) 3.Nb5 mate.