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Viktor Korchnoi vs Alexey Shirov
Buenos Aires Najdorf (1993), Buenos Aires ARG, rd 5, Apr-??
King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation. Classical System Misc. Lines (E98)  ·  1-0

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a
1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
Notes by Stockfish 9 v010218 (minimum 6s/ply)better is 14...Rf6 ⩲ +0.54 (23 ply)15.cxd6 was played in V Ikonnikov vs L Nunes, 2000 (1-0)15...Rf7 was played in Gelfand vs B Kantsler, 2001 (0-1)better is 16.Nd3 a6 17.Na4 Nf6 18.cxd6 cxd6 19.Nb6 Rb8 20.b4 g4 ⩲ +1.11 (20 ply) ⩲ +0.52 (22 ply)better is 21.Qa4 Bf8 22.Nb6 Rb8 23.Rb3 Be7 24.Nxc8 Qxc8 25.Rc3 Qe8 ⩲ +0.97 (21 ply)= +0.45 (22 ply)better is 23.Nc4 Ra8 24.Qc1 gxf3 25.Bxf3 Bg4 26.Qc2 Ne7 27.Nb6 Rb8 ⩲ +0.82 (22 ply)= +0.28 (23 ply) after 23...hxg4 24.Nxc8 Rxc8 25.Bxg4 Rxc3 26.bxc3 Nxe4 27.Bb6 26.gxh5 Ne7 27.Bd3 Nxf2 28.Rxf2 Qc5 29.Qa4 Qxd5 30.Bc2 = +0.38 (23 ply)= -0.40 (23 ply) after 26...Nf6 27.gxh5 Nh4 28.Qd3 Qd7 29.Rf2 Bg5 30.Bd1 e4 better is 28...Rg7 29.Qc2 Qe8 30.Qc7 Nexd5 31.Qxd6 Rd7 32.Qc5 e4 = -0.44 (21 ply)= +0.15 (23 ply) 30...Rf8 31.Bxd5 Nxd5 32.Rc2 Qb5 33.Nf3 Bg7 34.Nh4 Kh7 = -0.07 (23 ply) ⩲ +1.28 (25 ply) 31...Qxd5 32.Rd2 Qf7 33.Rxd6 Bf8 34.Rd8 Rxd8 35.Qxd8 Kg7 ⩲ +0.82 (24 ply) ± +1.94 (26 ply) 33...Qe8 34.Qh3 f3 35.Qxf3 Nb5 36.Rxc8 Qxc8 37.Qf6+ Bg7 ± +2.14 (23 ply)+- +5.01 (26 ply) after 34.Nf3 Be7 35.Bf2 Rf8 36.Qe6 Bf6 37.Bh4 Bxh4 38.Nxh4 Qe4 39...Rxc3 40.Nxc3 f3 41.gxf3 Kh7 42.Kf2 Qxh6 43.Qe4+ Kg8 +- +7.60 (23 ply)1-0

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
FEN COPIED

Annotations by Stockfish (Computer).      [35437 more games annotated by Stockfish]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Oct-29-13  hellopolgar: Viktor Korchnoi was 62 years old at the time...
Oct-29-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: <hellopolgar> Yes, but when it came to beating up the KID, Korchnoi always became 20 again.
Oct-30-13  RookFile: This looks like man vs. boy. Shirov was totally outplayed in this game.
Oct-30-13  SimonWebbsTiger: There is a little section on Korchnoi versus the KID in Kasparov's "On My Great Predecessors." Garry concludes that section noting Viktor thinks the KID is "a flexible opening", only Black should choose 7...Nbd7 in the classical variation.

Korchnoi has also introduced and played: 13. Nb5 (idea Nb5-a7); 13. a4; and 13. Rc1 Ng6 14. c5 here!

Also, Korchnoi has played 13. c5 g5 and now 14. cxd6 cxd6 15. Kh1 Ng6 16. Rc1 and 14. Rc1.

Whilst 16. Nb5 is a novelty; he played 16. b4 in a game versus Kasparov.

Versatile and innovative Viktor!

The big mistake of the game is 30...Rc8. 30...Rf8! (Shirov) maintained the balance.

Nov-14-14  Nf3em: after 39... Rxc3 (which is forced as other Rook moves e.g. 39... Rxd5 losses to 40.Rc8! ...) 40.Qg7+ Qxg7 41.hxg7+ Kxg7 42.Nxc3 followed by 43.Ne4 and 44.Nd6 with an easy win for White ...
Mar-27-21  Gaito:


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BLACK TO MOVE

This seems to have been a critical position where Black's game began to deteriorate from roughly equal to slightly worse, to downright worse, in just three or four consecutive moves.

Shirov played 30...Rc8. It looks good and playable, but it isn't clear what plan he had in mind. Another more concrete idea would be to play 30...Rf8 with a view to preparing an eventual advance of the central e and f-pawns.

30...Rc8 31.Bxd5!

Korchnoi's positional judgement was extraordinary. Most players would probably have preferred to keep the bishop pair. But then Shirov made a clear mistake: he recaptured with the knight, leaving his queen on a very uncofortable position, in view of the threat Rc2.

31....Nxd5? 32.Rc2 (±/+ −)

Mar-27-21  Gaito: After 32.Rc2, the reply Nc3 was practically forced, and this enabled Korchnoi to start undertaking nasty threats against Black's vulnerable King, who lay bared and helpless on a corner and with a complex of weakened light squares in the neighborhood (the remnants of a failed K-side offensive that never took place).

33.Qg4! (+ −)


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Mar-27-21  Gaito:


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WHITE TO MOVE

Viktor Korchnoi (like Reshevsky) belonged to the club of time-trouble addicts, and it is very likely that he had just a few minutes (or seconds) on his clock, and so played quickly 34.Nd3?!, missing the much stronger 34.Nf3! where the knight would be ready to jump to h4 or g5 in order to help the queen to deliver the final blow or "coup de grâce", as the French call it. But 34.Nd3 also sufficed to win.

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