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ANNOTATED GAME
Shirov #1: Shabalov Attack
Shirov (2720?) vs. Thorhallsson (2450)
Annotated by: raskerino (1841)
Chess opening: QGD Slav defence, Alekhine variation (D10)
Shirov (2720?) vs. Thorhallsson (2450)
Annotated by: raskerino (1841)
Chess opening: QGD Slav defence, Alekhine variation (D10)
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28... f4 |
Black has one asset. A passed f pawn with a rook behind, so he does the only thing he can, he pushes it. | |||||
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29. e6 |
A fork. | |||||
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29... Ba4 |
Black counters with a threat. | |||||
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30. Rd2 |
White doesn't want to give up his pawn phalanx by gaining material with 30.exf7 Bxd1 31.Rxd1, no, he wants the pawns to march. Edit: oops, 30.exf7 is met by 30... Qc2# duh. | |||||
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30... Rf5 |
Black brings the rook out of danger while hoping to activate it. | |||||
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31. Qf2 |
The one piece white has not used recently is his queen. When the king was on g8 it did a great job on h4, but now that square has lost value. This move also stops the f pawns from advancing to f2. Another option is 31.e7 Kc7 32.d6 Kd7 and the king finds some safety on the light squares, 33.exf8=Q Raxf8 and white has lost his wonderful pawn for a mere knight 34.Re7 Kb8 yeah this probably wins but the following seems more convincing to me. | |||||
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31... f3 |
Once again black pushes the one thing he has. | |||||
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32. Re4 |
White puts the question to the hopeless bishop. It's only squares are b5 where it's an easy target and e8 where it's hopelessly weak. 32.e7 is once again an alternative. | |||||
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32... Rxg5 |
Black tries to create some tactics around the white's back rank and control over c2. | |||||
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33. Rxa4 |
White moves the attacked rook and equalizes material. | |||||
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33... Rg1+ |
Black gives a check to misplace white's rook. | |||||
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34. Rd1 Rg2 |
Black has one plan, push that f pawn, note that it can't be taken 35.Qxf3 Qc2#. | |||||
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35. Qh4+ |
White must check, and he does so. | |||||
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35... Ke8 36. Re4 |
Now that Shirov's queen defends the e4 square it is the best way to shut down the black queen's attack on c2. | |||||
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36... Rc8 |
An attempt to build pressure. | |||||
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37. d6 |
The pawns roll. | |||||
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37... Rd8 |
An awful move, played when low on time: here's a sample line that deepblade gave on chessgames: 37... Qh6 38.Qxh6 Rxc3 39.bxc3 gxh6 when mate in 7 follows: 40.d7 Nxd7 41.exd7 Kf7 42.d8=Q Rc2 (obviously a pointless computer move, to make the mate take one move longer) 43.Kxc2 Kg6 44.Qd6 Kf5 45.Rd5 Kxe4 46.Qe5# | |||||
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38. Qe7# |
Ouch! Shirov first launched a wild pawn gambit, it was declined and so instead he sacrificed a piece to open line against black's king, this was converted into two pawns for the piece and a spatial advantage which he retained throughout, he turned this into two spectacular attacking passed pawns with rooks supporting them by sacrificing another pawn, and quite soon he had won. I think this is a great example of an attack that went on for 31 moves, from 7.g4 to mate. Throughout the game, the advantages white held constantly converted between different attacking positional advantages. I'd recommend taking a second quick look at the game from black's point of view to watch the attack come to you. I hope you enjoyed the game, and I'd love to get PMed if you have thoughts, criticisms or ideas. | |||||
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