The very creative Latvian Grandmaster Alexi Shirov has a penchant for sharp opening variations. In particular, Alexi likes to get in g4 as early as feasible. Numerous opening systems have thus been enriched with this approach.
Playing over Shirov’s games from the recent Helsingor International Tournament, I noticed that he has yet another ‘patent’ under review. Take a look at the following game.
Shirov,A – Johannsson, O Helsingor 22.7.2018
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.g4$5{[#]
<div class="custom_attn_box" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>The idea of this move is to immediately start a fight for the initiative. Traditionally, White usually tries to castle queenside and then advance his g-pawn. The immediate g4 creates new challenges for the Black player. Only time will decide on its merits, however.</strong></span></div>
<div></div>
}
Rb8$5{[#]A mysterious move!}
( {<strong style="color: red;">More intuitive seems</strong>}5...Ngf6$5 6.Nxf6+!
( {<strong style="color: red;">Less strong is</strong>}6.Ng3 c5 7.g5 Nd5 8.Bg2 cxd4 9.Qxd4 Nb4 10.Qc3 Qa5 11.Bd2 Qe5+
12.Qxe5 Nxe5 13.O-O-O Bd7 14.a3 Bc6 15.Bxc6+ Nbxc6 16.Bc3 h6
17.h4 hxg5 18.hxg5 Rxh1 19.Nxh1 Rd8 20.Ng3 Rxd1+ 21.Kxd1 b5 22.Ke2
Kd7 23.Nf3 Nxf3 24.Kxf3 e5 25.Ke4 Ke6 26.f4 exf4 27.Nh5 g6 28.Nxf4+
Kd7 29.Nd5 Bd6 30.Bd2 Nd8 31.c4 bxc4 32.Kd4 c3 33.Nxc3 Ne6+ 34.Kd5
Nc7+ 35.Kc4 Be5 36.b4 f6 37.gxf6 Bxf6 38.Ne4 Be7 39.a4 a6 40.Nc5+
Kc6 41.Nxa6 Nxa6 42.b5+ Kb7 43.bxa6+ Kxa6 {1/2-1/2, Sulskis,S 2577 – Pelletier,Y 2581 , Porto Carras GRE 5/11/2011 18th European Teams}
) Nxf6 7.g5 Nd5 8.Nf3 c5 9.a3! ({<strong style="color: red;">Yet another improvement over</strong>} 9.c4 Ne7 10.dxc5 Qxd1+ 11.Kxd1
Nf5 12.c6 bxc6 13.Bd3 g6 14.Bf4 h6 15.Be5 Rh7 16.Kc2 Bb7 17.Be4
hxg5 18.Nxg5 Rh5 19.h4 Rd8 20.Rh3 Be7 21.Rg1 Ba8 22.Bxf5 gxf5
23.f4 c5 24.Rgg3 Bc6 25.Ra3 Ra8 26.Ra6 Bb7 27.Ra5 Bc8 28.Nf3
f6 29.Bc3 Bb7 30.Nd2 a6 31.Ra3 Kf7 32.Rb3 Bg2 33.Rh2 Rg8 34.Rb6
Rg4 35.Rxa6 Rhxh4 36.Rxh4 Rxh4 37.Ra7 Ke8 38.Ra6 Kd7 39.Ra7+
Ke8 40.Ra6 Kd7 {1/2-1/2, Shirov,A 2652 – Alekseev,Evgeny 2622 , Sochi RUS 7/ 5/2018 TCh-RUS Premier 2018}
) Qc7 10.Bb5+ Bd7 11.Bxd7+ Qxd7 12.dxc5 Bxc5 13.c4 Nb6 14.Qxd7+
Kxd7 15.b3{<strong style="color: red;">White has a small but long term endgame edge</strong>} f6 16.Rg1 Rhg8 17.Be3 Bxe3 18.fxe3 Ke7 19.Ke2 Rad8
20.Rac1 h6 21.gxh6 gxh6 22.Nd4 Kf7 23.c5 Nd5 24.Nb5 Rxg1 25.Rxg1
b6 26.c6 Ne7 27.Nxa7 Ra8 28.Nb5 Nxc6 29.Rc1 Ne5 30.Rc7+ Kg6 31.a4
h5 32.Nd4 Rg8 33.Re7 h4 34.h3 Nf7 35.Nxe6 Ng5 36.Nf4+ Kf5 37.Rb7
Rc8 38.Rxb6 Rc3 39.a5 Rc5 40.a6 Ra5 41.Kd3 Ne4 42.a7 {1-0, Shirov, Alexei 2637 – Nakar, Eylon 2462 , Helsingor DEN 25/ 7/2018 Xtracon Chess Open 2018}
)
6.Qe2$5{[#]An improvement prepared by Shirov} ( 6.Bg2 b5 7.Nf3 Bb7 8.Qe2 a6 9.O-O Ngf6 10.Nxf6+ Nxf6
11.g5 Nd7 12.a4 Bd6 13.axb5 axb5 14.Ne5 Bxg2 15.Kxg2 Bxe5 16.dxe5
O-O 17.Qe4 Nb6 18.Be3 Qd5 19.Qxd5 Nxd5 20.Bc5 Rfd8 21.Ra7 h6
22.gxh6 gxh6 23.f4 Ra8 24.Rxa8 Rxa8 25.Kf3 Ra2 26.Rb1 Ra4 27.Be3
Rc4 28.Rc1 Ra4 29.b3 Ra2 30.c4 Nxe3 31.Kxe3 Rxh2 32.Rb1 Rh3+
33.Ke4 Rc3 34.Kd4 Rf3 35.Ke4 Rc3 36.Kd4 {1/2-1/2, Shirov,A 2644 – Meier,Geo 2636 , Berlin GER 28/ 4/2018 Lasker 150 Blitz Swiss}
) b5 7.a4!{[#]Making Black’s pawns more vulnerable to attack} b4 8.d5!{[#]} e5 9.Be3 a5 10.O-O-O Bd6 11.f4{[#]White has a won game and Shirov did not disappoint his fans!} Ne7 12.Nf3 Nf6
13.Nxd6+ cxd6 14.fxe5 Nxg4 15.Bg5 f6 16.exf6 gxf6 17.Bh4 O-O
18.Nd4 Ne5 19.Rg1+ Kh8 20.Qh5 N7g6 21.Nc6 Qb6 22.Rxg6 Nxg6 23.Bd3
Kg7 24.Nxb8 Qe3+ 25.Kb1 Qf4 26.Rg1 f5 27.Bg5 Qd4 28.Qh6+ Kg8
29.Be3 Qxd5 30.Nc6{[#]} 1-0
You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
