Shirov at Spanish Team ch
Instructive Lesson
Bravo to the Spanish Chess Federation (FEDA) for continuing to hold OTB tournaments, despite the omni-present threat of Covid-19. The Spanish Team Championship (Honor division) is taking place this week in Linares and will continue until the 29th.
The Honor division is an 8-team all play all event. Pairings and related information can be found HERE.
Shirov gives a chess lesson
The round two encounter on board two between gm Alexi Shirov (Silla-Bosch) and gm Bartosz Socko (Solvay) saw some cat and mouse manoeuvring leading up to the critical position where Shirov decided to trade two minor pieces for Rook and 2-pawns.
Generally, this kind of asymmetric exchange is one of the most difficult decisions to evaluate correctly in chess, often leading to unclear and dynamic play where subtle finesses are so important.
But Shirov knew what he was doing in this game.
The exposed position of the Black King was the most important factor, and with excellent play Shirov prevented the Black minor pieces to coordinate.
Shirov won an important point for his team, which narrowly won the match 3.5 – 2.5
gm Shirov,A – gm Socko,B
Linares 24.9.2020
1-0
