[Event "Leon Man+Comp"] [Site "Leon"] [Date "2001.06.08"] [Round "1.2"] [White "Shirov, Alexei"] [Black "Topalov, Veselin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B33"] [WhiteElo "2722"] [BlackElo "2707"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2001.06.08"] [EventType "k.o. (rapid)"] [EventRounds "2"] [EventCountry "ESP"] [SourceTitle "CBM 084"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2001.09.13"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2001.09.13"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. Bxb5 {Nowadays, this is mainly played as a surprise weapon.} axb5 12. Nxb5 Ra4 13. b4 $5 (13. Nbc7+ Kd7 14. O-O (14. Qh5 $2 Rxe4+ 15. Kf1 {Here practically everyone plays 15...Ne7, and it's good, too. But Stockfish prefers} Qh4 {when White can grab a pawn or two but remain with a lost position thanks to his bad king.} 16. Qxf5+ Kd8 17. Qxf7 Be7 18. Nxe7 Nxe7 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. Qxd5 Rd4 21. Qf3 Rd2 $19 {is one possibility.}) 14... Rxe4 15. Qh5 $11 {is plenty complicated, but both the engine and practice - both OTB and email games - indicate that Black is fine after 15...Nd4 or 15... Ne7 (and maybe the rare 15...Qh4 as well).}) 13... Rxb4 $1 14. Nbc7+ Kd7 15. O-O {Here Black should avoid 15...fxe4 because of mate in two (a small quiz for the reader), but other ways of pursuing the e-pawn are fine: 15...Rxe4, 15. ..Rg8 (preparing ...fxe4) and 15...Qh4 (preparing either ...fxe4 or ...Qxe4 - yes, despite the possible fork!) are all fine possibilities.} Qxc7 $2 {This is a very rare move, but it may have been on both players' radar because of a game earlier that year, between Rychagov and Ripari. Ripari was a non-GM and lost, but apparently it was interesting enough to explore further, and they did.} (15... Qh4 $1 16. g3 Qxe4 $1 {Maybe this line is Shirov's redemption. White can play the immediate 17.Nf6+ followed by 18.Nxe4. Instead, the engine offers an improvement:} 17. c3 $3 (17. Nf6+ $2 Kxc7 18. Nxe4 fxe4 19. c3 Rc4 $1 $19) 17... Rb7 ({Trying to save the queen with} 17... Qc4 $2 {fails, as the influence of White's knights seems almost ubiquitous.} 18. cxb4 {Threatening Nb6+. Where does Black's queen go to avoid a fork?} Qd4 {The only safe square, incredibly, but now White turns his attention to Black's king.} 19. Qh5 Kd8 20. Qxf7 Be7 21. b5 Rf8 22. Ne6+ Bxe6 23. Qxe6 $18) 18. Nf6+ Kxc7 19. Nxe4 fxe4 $15 ) 16. c3 {How should this move be punctuated? Objectively, it deserves a question mark, but for its brilliance and the depth of the idea one wants to give it two exclamation points. It's a great idea, but it just doesn't work.} ( 16. Nxc7 {The obvious, boring move - and unfortunately for our story, it's also the best.} Kxc7 17. Qh5 Rxe4 18. Qxf7+ Be7 {Shirov's brilliance was in recognizing - correctly - that White's advantage would be even greater if his his pawn were on c3, restricting Black's rook (on e4) and knight. This was the pursuit of too much of a good thing, however: it was correct to "settle" for this and enjoy a winning or nearly winning advantage.} 19. Rfb1 $1 $16 { /+- The right move, and while we're at it, a second improvement over what Shirov did in the game.} Rf8 20. Qb3 Rb4 21. Qd5 Rxb1+ 22. Rxb1 Bd7 23. a4 Ra8 24. Qc4 h5 25. g3 Ra5 26. Rb5 d5 27. Rxd5 Be6 28. Qxc6+ Kxc6 29. Rxa5 Bc5 30. Ra6+ Kd5 31. c4+ {1-0 (31) Rychagov,M (2525)-Ripari,M (2301) Saint Vincent 2001 }) 16... Rxe4 $1 (16... Qb7 {was possible, though very risky.} 17. cxb4 fxe4 18. Rc1 Ke6 $1 19. f4 $1 Nd4 $8 20. Nc7+ $8 Ke7 $8 21. fxe5 dxe5 22. Qh5 f5 $14 {is a mess, and certainly very dangerous for Black in the short term.}) 17. Qh5 {The critical moment.} Kd8 $2 {Topalov saw no better way to deal with the threats of Qxf5+ and Qxf7+, and he therefore allows White to carry out his main idea.} (17... Qb7 18. Qxf5+ Kd8 (18... Ke8 {is also possible.}) 19. Qxe4 Ne7 $1 20. c4 Bf5 21. Qh4 Rg8 22. g3 Rg6 (22... Qc8 $11 {is equally good.}) 23. a4 (23. Rfd1 $11) 23... Rh6 24. Qg5 Rg6 25. Qh4 (25. Qd2 $143 Bh6 26. Qc3 Nxd5 27. cxd5 Qc8 $15) 25... Rh6 $11) (17... Qa7 {gives White more options.} 18. Qxf5+ Kd8 19. Qxe4 Ne7 {Other moves are possible and equally good (at least objectively).} 20. Nf6 (20. Rfd1) (20. Rfb1) (20. Rab1) 20... Ng8 (20... Qb7 $11 {is also possible.}) 21. Qf3 (21. Nd5) (21. Nh5) 21... Bb7 22. Nd5 (22. Qf5 ) 22... Ne7 23. Qf6 (23. c4) 23... Bxd5 $8 24. Qxh8 Ng6 25. Qg8 (25. Qxh7 Nf4 $11) (25. Qf6+ Be7 26. Qg7 $11 (26. Qf5 $2 Bxg2 $19)) 25... Qa4 (25... Ke7) ( 25... Ke8) (25... Qa8) 26. Rfd1 Bxg2 $1 27. Kxg2 (27. Rxd6+ Ke7 28. Rxg6 hxg6 29. Kxg2 Qg4+ $11) 27... Qg4+ 28. Kf1 Qc4+ 29. Kg1 Qg4+ $11) (17... Qa5 18. Qxf5+ $8 Kd8 19. Qxe4 Rg8 $11 {is still another possibility, and I will leave further analysis to the interested reader.}) 18. Nxc7 Kxc7 19. Qxf7+ Be7 20. Rab1 $2 (20. Rfb1 $1 $18 {was correct, following the early example of Rychagov (see the note to White's 16th move), using the other rook to support the a-pawn. Here White is winning. One critical point is that} Ba6 {, which is very effective in the game, is now met by} 21. Rb4 $3 $18 {Here Black has no rook on f1 to capture, and that makes all the difference.}) 20... Ba6 21. Rfd1 $14 {/= Here White's advantage is minimal, and while Shirov went on to win the game it's not because he has anything special here.} Rf8 22. Qb3 Rb8 23. Qe6 Rxb1 24. Rxb1 Bd3 25. Rd1 f4 26. Qd5 Bc2 27. Rc1 Re2 28. a4 e4 29. a5 Bd3 30. Ra1 Rb2 31. c4 Rb7 32. a6 Ra7 33. f3 Ne5 34. fxe4 Bxc4 35. Rc1 Rxa6 36. Rxc4+ Nxc4 37. Qxc4+ Rc6 38. Qf7 Kd8 39. Qg8+ Kd7 40. Qxh7 Rc5 41. Qf7 Rc1+ 42. Kf2 Rc8 43. Qf5+ Kc7 44. Qe6 1-0