And the Champions are…
Congratulations to Shirov’s team Chair-Bosch for winning the 2020 Spanish Team Championship (Honor Div)! This team narrowly edged out their closest rival, Andreu Paterna. Both teams won yesterday.
Decisive Endgame
The game between gm Shirov and gm Naiditsch on board 2 proved to be the decisive factor in yesterday’s 3.5 to 2.5 match victory.
The endgame, in particular, is worth close study as it featured an even-material asymmetric ending (2-pieces for Rook and Pawn). In general, the pieces are better than the Rook and Pawn, and in this particular case this was true.
However, Shirov’s technique is near perfect and it is very instructive to see how he gradually exploited his small advantage.
gm Shirov,A – gm Naiditsch,A Linares 29.9.2020 (1-0)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.O-O Nf6 6.Qe2 Nc6
7.Rd1 g5 8.c3 g4 9.Nh4 Qe6 10.d3 d5 11.Nd2 c4 12.dxc4 dxe4 13.Nb3
Rc8 14.Bg5 Nd7 15.Rd5 Rg8 16.Rad1 Nce5 17.Nd4 Qa6 18.Bf4 Qxc4
19.Rxe5 Qxe2 20.Nxe2 Nxe5 21.Bxe5 Rg5 22.Bf4 Ra5 23.a3 e6 24.g3
Rd8{[#] <strong style="color:red;">A critical moment. Should White trade Rooks or not. Shirov thought a while here before making his move.</strong>} 25.Re1!{[#] <strong style="color:red;">The best. Shirov decides to keep his only Rook. It is not an easy decision, as he had to first evaluate the positions after Black succeeds in penetrating on his back rank, as Black could create mating threats against the White King on the Kingside if he is not careful…</strong>}
({<strong style="color:black;">After </strong> } 25.Rxd8+ Kxd8 26.Kf1 a6 27.Ng2 Rd5 28.Ke1 Rh5$5 {<strong style="color:black;">Black has annoying counterplay </strong> } )
Rad5 26.Nd4! Bg7 27.Rxe4
({<strong style="color:black;">Tempting is </strong> } 27.Be3$5 e5 28.Ndf5 Rd1 29.Kf1 Bf6 30.Ng2 {<strong style="color:black;">but Shirov’s choice is simpler and less messy. </strong> } )
Bxd4 28.cxd4 Rxd4{[#] <strong style="color:red;"></strong>}
29.Re2!{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Not trading Rooks again. Shirov realizes that he can create more play with his R+B+N than Black’s 2 Rooks</strong>} Rd1+ {[#] <strong style="color:red;">There is not much else to do except to try to ‘trick’ the White King.</strong>}
( {<strong style="color:black;">The plan of trying to trade Rooks vis the c-file will not work: </strong> }29...R8d5 30.h3 h5 31.Kg2 Rc4 {<strong style="color:black;">with the idea of R(5)-c5 and then Rc2 </strong> } 32.Be5!{<strong style="color:black;">and White will follow up with Bc3 preventing the Rook exchange. </strong> } )
30.Kg2 Rb1$5{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Tricky! Naiditsch wants to double his Rooks on the first rank and start attacking the White King. Unfortunately for Black, Shirov had forseen this idea when he played 25.Re1. Deep, isn’t it?</strong>} 31.h3!{[#] <strong style="color:red;"></strong>}
h5 32.hxg4 hxg4 33.f3!{[#] <strong style="color:red;">In this way the White King is free to move.</strong>} gxf3+ 34.Nxf3{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Black’s problem is that he has no counterplay. In the meantime, White will improve his 3-pieces and start to creat real threats.</strong>} Ke7
35.Bd2! f6 36.Bc3 {[#] <strong style="color:red;">The Bishop is really strong here. It is especially worth noting how this single Bishop destroys any coordination between Black’s Rooks. White can now try to play his Knight to e4 to create weaknesses in Blacks pawns.Surprisingly, Black’s position soon falls apart.</strong>}
( 36.Bb4+$5 Kd7 37.Bc3 e5 38.Nd2$5 ) Rbd1 37.Nd2 ( 37.Re4$5 e5 38.Kf2
a6 39.Rh4 ) b6 {<strong style="color:black;">Losing patience and making things a bit easier for White, but Black can only wait for White to progress, and Naiditsch just wanted to go home! </strong> }
( 37...e5 38.Rf2 Rg8 39.Rf5 Rd8 40.Ne4 {<strong style="color:black;">is similar to the game. </strong> } )
38.Ne4 e5 39.Rf2!{[#] <strong style="color:red;">What Naiditsch overlooked. Winning a pawn. Black can not defend with Rf8 because of the Bishop check on b4. Black’s game now quickly becomes desperate.</strong>} Ke6 40.Rxf6+ Kd5 41.Nf2!{[#] <strong style="color:red;"></strong>} Rb1 42.Ng4 Re8 43.Rf2
Re6 44.Rd2+ Kc4 45.Nxe5+ Kb3 46.g4{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Beautiful technique! It is remarkable how the two pieces dominate the Rooks.</strong>} a5 47.Nf3 Rg6 48.g5 Rc1 49.Bf6
Ka2 50.Rd8 Rc6 51.Rf8 b5 52.Kh3 b4 53.axb4 axb4 54.Ne5!{[#] <strong style="color:red;"></strong>} 1-0
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