Shirov v Svidler

Norway’s teenage chess wizard, 17-year-old Magnus Carlsen, has won the prestigious Aerosvit invitational tournament in the Ukraine with a round to spare. Carlsen is one-and-a-half points ahead of the field, and cannot be caught even if he loses the final game of the tournament. With this victory, Carlsen has moved to the number two spot in the world in rank. He currently sits at 2792 rating points, six behind India’s current world champion Vishy Anand, and four ahead of Russia’s former world champ Vladimir Kramnik.

Twelve of the world’s strongest chess players participated in the tournament with the average rating being 2711.

In today’s feature, taken from the tournament, Shirov outplays Svidler on his birthday. Black tries the Slav defence and is cut to shreds by his opponent.

Shirov, A (2740) – Svidler, P (2746)
Aerosvit Foros UKR (10), 18.6.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 e6 6.e3 c5 7.Bxc4 Nc6 8.0-0 cxd4 9.exd4 Be7 10.Bg5 0-0 11.Re1 Bd7 12.Qd2 Rc8 13.Rad1 Nb4 14.Ne5 Nbd5 15.Bxf6 Nxf6 16.d5 Bb4 17.dxe6 Bxe6 18.Qc2 Qb6 19.Bxe6 fxe6 20.Nd3 Bxc3 21.bxc3 Nd5 22.c4 Nb4 23.Nxb4 Qxb4 24.Re4 b5 25.Rh4 h6 26.axb5 ( DIAGRAM )
Some minor tactics lead to a rook ending: 26…Qxb5 27.Rxh6 Qf5 28.Qxf5 exf5 29.Rh4. White is a pawn up. Black seeks his salvation in a kingside attack. 29…f4 30.Rd4 Rb8 31.h3 f3 32.g4 Rb1+ 33.Kh2 Rf1 34.Rd2 Re8 35.Kg3 Re2 36.Rd8+ Kf7 37.Rd7+ Kg6 38.Rh8 Rexf2 39.Rg8  Rg2+ 40.Kf4 f2 . With this move the mate becomes forced. 41. Rgxg7+ Kf6 42. Rh7 Ke6 43. Kg5 and checkmate in two.  Black Resigns !  1—0.