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| Jun-16-06 | | KingG: This is one of Shirov's most famous games, and one of his best. This was far from a standard 'Greek Gift', but Shirov breaks through with a double pawn sacrifice, and then by exploiting the weak dark squares created around the king. |
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| Aug-03-08 | | Bobsterman3000: <KingG> You are right, this game is not just a "routine" Greek Gift. Shirov understands the proper way to follow up on the heavy kingside invasion that normally follows the bishop sac on h7. 28. f5!! starts a plan to get white's dark-squared bishop to g5, where it can cut off the black king's "backout" escape via e7 and d8. Since Reinderman already sidelined his own dark squared bishop with the ill-advised 18....Bxb2?? it leaves no black defenders on the kingside to slow Shirov's mayhem attack. 35. Rc7!! is a also a ground-shaking shot.
What a game! |
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Oct-16-11
 | | plang: Shirov after 6..Nge7:
"Somehow this set-up has always seemed too slow to me. Black wants to put his other knight on c6 after an exchange on d4, but I believe that it stands a little better on the "normal" f6 square due to its control over d5. In the present game it will be difficult for Black to employ the "freeing" idea of ..d5." One of the ideas of 7 f4 is to free the f2 square for the queen after ..Nc6. 16 Rad1 was Shirov's improvement on Van der Weil- Andersson Wijk-Aan-Zee 1987 where 16 Qg3 was played and the game ended in a draw. the pawn sacrifice 16..b3?! backfired as Shirov had good play on the c-file after 17 cxb; 16..Bf6 or 16..f5 were alternatives. Shirov gave the pawn back immediately with 18 Rc1. Had Black played 19..Bf6 White's pressure on the c-file after 20 Rfc1 would have been strong but after 19..Ba3 Black's kingside was deprived of its last defender. 25..Kf8? would have led to mate after 26 Nh7+..Kg8 27 Nf6+!. After 32 Bh6! the defense 32..Nxh6 would have led to mate after 33 Qf6+..Kg8 34 Rxg6+..Kxh7 35 Rxh6+. Similarly, 32..Nf8 would have led to Nxf8..Nxh6 34 Rxg6..Rxf8 35 Rxf6+ also leads to mate. Nunn's comment:
"...When the possibility to play Bxh7+ arose , Shirov went in for it even though he could not have worked out every variation. He undoubtably calculated several lines and from these judged that the weight of attacking force would be to great for Black to resist. The key idea was to combine the sacrifice with a central breakthrough by f5 and e6 , thereby opening up more lines and allowing the entire army to participate in the attack...." |
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| Feb-23-14 | | Sourav: Why can't black play 10....b4 thereby winning the pawn on c2? |
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Feb-23-14
 | | OhioChessFan: <Sourav> the Pawn grab isn't worth the loss in development. Here's one quick line: 10..b4 11. Na4 Qxc2 12. b3 Nc6 13. Qe3 Na5 14. Bb2 Bb7 15. Rf2 Qc7 16. Nb6 
click for larger view |
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| Feb-23-14 | | Sourav: Thank you <OhioChessFan>. My question was hinged on black's move 12. ... Qe4. I was overlooking 13. Bf3 by white. Thanks again. |
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| Feb-24-14 | | capafischer1: Shirov's games are very sharp and tactical when he has the initiative. |
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| Aug-16-14 | | stacase: 22 Bxh7+ is a no brainer. |
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| Aug-16-14 | | The17thPawn: <stacase> - True but seeing a way to capitalize through stalwart defense was the true genius here. Sacrificing the F&E pawns as well as the rook c7 move would be very difficult for this patzer to consider. |
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| Aug-16-14 | | morfishine: I saw the entire 23-move combination, well not really... One thing, the first move <22.Bxh7+> is
uncharacteristically straightforward for a Sat POTD
22...Kxh7 23.Qh4+ Kg8 24.Ng5 Rd8 25.Qh7+ Kf8 26.Qh8+ Ke7 27.Qxg7 ***** |
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Aug-16-14
 | | al wazir: The first few moves, beginning with 22. Bxh7+, are obvious. But since Shirov took 20 moves to win I guess he didn't visualize the whole thing ahead of time. |
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| Aug-16-14 | | diagonalley: <al wazir> agreed... methinks 'twas a leap of faith |
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Aug-16-14
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: Kept getting stuck until I had the "bright" idea that this was one of those trick positions CG sometimes uses to trip up players who see only the first move and give themselves full credit. For a moment I thought 22.Rxc6,Qxc6; 23.Nd4,Qd7; 24.Bxh7+,Kxh7; 25.Qh4+,Kg8; 26.Rf3 might be a solution. But I doubt it. |
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Aug-16-14
 | | offramp: A routine standard Greek Gift. |
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Aug-16-14
 | | beatgiant: I was studying 22. Qh4 h6 23. g4 Re8 24. g5 Bf8 26. gxh6 gxh6 27. Rg2+ Kh8 28. f5 which looks like an easy win. That's not all forced, but I don't see anything much better for Black either. What am I missing? |
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| Aug-16-14 | | Nick46: I guessed the Saturday sacrosanct first move :) |
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| Aug-16-14 | | Nick46: but don't think it's of much credit <An Englishman> |
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| Aug-16-14 | | Cheapo by the Dozen: I thought White would sacrifice the exchange at c6 as part of the solution. |
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| Aug-16-14 | | Caissas Clown: <Nick46:> I guessed the Saturday sacrosanct first move :) Me too ! I didn't bother with solving it any further than 24.Ng5 - too easy :-). Seriously , wonderful attack by Alexei.
Rc7 was a stunner!
I doubt I will ever understand some of his preparatory moves - and that's exactly why he enthralls me.Great entertainer. |
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| Aug-16-14 | | Nick46: <Caissas Clown:too easy :-)> Reinderman, aka reindeer-man, was probably giving Shirov a Xmas present. |
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Aug-16-14
 | | Penguincw: Wow. This has to be one of the easiest Saturdays either. 22.Bxh7+ Kxh7 was obvious, but is there a difference between 23.Ng5+ or 23.Qh4+? I would've played the former, followed by the latter a move later. Unfortunately, I didn't see followups such as 24...Re8 and 25...Ne7. |
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| Aug-16-14 | | Lighthorse: Yeah, I saw the obvious Bxh7 also, and then obsessed with that black Bishop on a3 keeping me from blocking off the King's escape to e7. It never dawned on me to go the other way with f5. But that white Rook lift to f3 really fooled me as I played through the game. I never saw that either. It seemed like a total tempo waste. But now I see it becomes useful on g3 many many moves later. |
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| Aug-16-14 | | Once: A slightly odd puzzle, methinks. The Greek gift sacrifice is pretty obvious. Then white has a fair few choices about how to proceed. Fritzie finds plenty of alternative moves and transpositions. Even Shirov's main plain of f5 and e6 doesn't seem obligatory, or necessarily the strongest moves. It's all a bit meh. Nice attack. Fun to play through, but not really a puzzle. |
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| Aug-16-14 | | kevin86: I had the bishop sac- after that, it's everyone on their own! |
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| Aug-16-14 | | vajeer: How about 30...Bb2. It protects the g7 pawn. And if Rxb2, White cannot play Rc7 later which is a key move for White. |
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sac: 22.Bxh7+