This Week's ChessBase Show: Shirov-Nunn
Nowadays practically every chess fan knows about Alexei Shirov, and rightly so. Not only has Shirov been near the top of world chess for over a decade, but his brilliance in wildly complicated positions has made him a big fan favorite.
In many ways, however, John Nunn offered the chess world something similar. (Past tense: according to his latest memoir, Grandmaster Chess Move by Move, his days as a professional player are over.) Though never quite reaching Shirov's heights in the world's pecking order, Nunn has been an elite grandmaster for over two decades and a truly feared attacking player.
Put the two together and the fireworks fly - and in our game for this week, it's Shirov who gets burned. In their game from the 1995 Donner Memorial in Amsterdam, Shirov meets Nunn's beloved King's Indian with the Classical Variation with 9.Ne1. The traditional White-on-the-queenside vs. Black-on-the-kingside race ensues, and on this occasion Black was faster. Shirov attempts to stall the attack by giving up a knight for three pawns, but it doesn't work. The exchange altered the complexion of the game, but left White with holes a-plenty, leading to a decisive second wave of the attack. With his king on e6, about to be mated, Shirov resigned.
It's an impressive win for Nunn, but hardly out of the ordinary, as the reader can easily verify by looking through collections of his games. I hope this week's show will my encourage my viewers to further investigate his career - one could do far worse in seeking a model attacking player.
As always, directions for watching live shows (free every Monday at 9 pm ET on the playchess.com server) or those in the archives can be found here, while a list of games covered in the nearly two years I've been doing the show can be found here.
In many ways, however, John Nunn offered the chess world something similar. (Past tense: according to his latest memoir, Grandmaster Chess Move by Move, his days as a professional player are over.) Though never quite reaching Shirov's heights in the world's pecking order, Nunn has been an elite grandmaster for over two decades and a truly feared attacking player.
Put the two together and the fireworks fly - and in our game for this week, it's Shirov who gets burned. In their game from the 1995 Donner Memorial in Amsterdam, Shirov meets Nunn's beloved King's Indian with the Classical Variation with 9.Ne1. The traditional White-on-the-queenside vs. Black-on-the-kingside race ensues, and on this occasion Black was faster. Shirov attempts to stall the attack by giving up a knight for three pawns, but it doesn't work. The exchange altered the complexion of the game, but left White with holes a-plenty, leading to a decisive second wave of the attack. With his king on e6, about to be mated, Shirov resigned.
It's an impressive win for Nunn, but hardly out of the ordinary, as the reader can easily verify by looking through collections of his games. I hope this week's show will my encourage my viewers to further investigate his career - one could do far worse in seeking a model attacking player.
As always, directions for watching live shows (free every Monday at 9 pm ET on the playchess.com server) or those in the archives can be found here, while a list of games covered in the nearly two years I've been doing the show can be found here.
Posted by Dennis Monokroussos on
Saturday December 31, 2005 at 11:57pm
Anyway, Happy New Year Dennis, and thanks for all the great shows in 2005.