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Nigel Short vs Boris Gelfand
"Remembrance of Pawns Passed" (game of the day Jul-21-2010)
Short - Gelfand Candidates Quarterfinal (1991), Brussels BEL, rd 5, Aug-17
Spanish Game: Berlin Defense. l'Hermet Variation Berlin Wall Defense (C67)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Given 17 times; par: 96 [what's this?]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Mar-11-03  Rookpawn: After 51. Rxc7, all the pawns on the board are passed!
Feb-15-04  GoodKnight: Wow! The black king is totally boxed in!!!
Feb-16-04  Catfriend: It seems that pictoresque position are a hot theme lately:) Well, I have nothing against that! Here the mate comes like that: 61..♘e3 62.f6+ ♔h7 63.f7 ♘d5+ 64.♔d8 ♘c7 65.f8=♕ ♘:e6+ 66.♖:♘e6 a2 67.g6#
Feb-16-04  GoodKnight: <Catfriend>

Almost as hot as letter width ;)

Feb-16-04  Catfriend: Maybe we can combine the two in some way:) Any suggestions?
Feb-16-04  GoodKnight: Hmm... Can't think of anything
Feb-07-05  yoozum: This game was especially well-played by Short in the sense that he never seemed to relinquish his initial advantage. That and a few notable blunders by Gelfand.
Feb-08-05  Poisonpawns: Gelfand vs Short, 1990 devestating win from short over gelfand,
Aug-17-05  Jim Bartle: Analysis of this game by Yasser Seirawan now at chesscafe.com
Sep-27-05  aw1988: I do not like Seirawan's analysis. He dubs the entire Berlin defense as "bad". I will not trust someone like that.
Sep-27-05  hayton3: Objectively speaking the 'Berlin' is "bad" from a positional point of view and it's not surprising for a positional player like Seirawan to say this. This is not to say that the opening is unplayable; it can be very frustrating for the dynamically inclined to play against. In the context of Seirwan's full quote it is difficult finding reasons not to agree with him:-

After 9.Rd1+

"For some reason many GMs have
Black’s position as a part of their
repertoire. Why? It’s bad. White’s
better structure, lead in development,
and kingside play make White an easy
choice." Yasser Seirawan

Sep-27-05  aw1988: Objectively speaking. But we all know the Berlin is a wonderful system full of resources, as brought back to life by Kramnik. I know this, and I'm not even a grandmaster. So, what's his excuse?
Sep-27-05  hayton3: He doesn't need one in the same you don't when you post your opinions
Sep-27-05  aw1988: But it seems... to have a modern day grandmaster say bad things about a good defense... I know it's an opinion, but geez.
Jun-21-06  McCool: The game looked more like the Berlin wall attack.
Nov-23-08  Jim Bartle: The famous "eight passed pawns" game.
Jan-24-09  WhiteRook48: and a great game. Did we expect the game to be Short?
Feb-08-09  WhiteRook48: king enveloped in a bunch of pawns at the end is amazing
Feb-22-09  WhiteRook48: best Short game ever
Mar-30-09  WhiteRook48: I don't get 45...Bxa3. 45...Be7 pins the white rook.
Oct-08-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  GrahamClayton: <WhiteRook48>I don't get 45...Bxa3. 45...Be7 pins the white rook.

WhiteRook48,
Short doesn't need to worry about the pin, eg 45....♗e7 46.♔g6 ♗f6 47.ef6 ♖g8+ 48.♔h6, and Black is helpless against the advance of the f-pawn.

Jul-21-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: No, eight passed pawns is not a record. Here's Smyslov vs Botvinnik, 1941 after 59.Rxf6:


click for larger view

with 9 passed pawns. Today's game does have the distinction of having one passed pawn on each file.

Jul-21-10  The Famous Chess Cat: For those of you who are interested, Yasser Seirawan's annotations are here: http://www.chesscafe.com/text/yaz48...

Jim Bartle mentioned that Yasser had annotated this game; I'm just adding the link. Cheers.

Jul-21-10  ounos: Hmm. Curiously slow white king-side pawns.

Position after 37. ...Rd1


click for larger view

It took 13 long moves for a king-side pawn to move forward, by 50. e6, and then other 7 moves for 57. f4. I haven't analyzed this, but I would expect them to roll faster. Overcautious? Did black really have that much counterplay to be parried in between?

Jul-21-10  NewLine: After 48.cxd4, it's NINE passed pawns!


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