Division 1 P W D L Pts Division 2 P W D L Pts Division 3 P W D L Pts ---------- ---------- ---------- N Belfast A 7 6 0 1 34.5 Shorts A 8 6 0 2 35.5 Shorts B 8 6 0 2 40 Fisherwick A 8 4 1 3 33 Nortel 8 4 2 2 34.5 Fisherwick C 8 4 1 3 31 N Belfast B 8 3 1 4 27 Bangor A 8 5 1 2 33.5 Post Office 8 4 2 2 29.5 Malachians 6 4 0 2 25.5 Bangor B 7 2 2 3 23 Bangor C 7 3 2 2 24.5 N'Ards 8 2 2 4 22.5 Fisherwick B 6 3 1 2 22.5 St Agnes B 7 3 1 3 24 CIYMS A 8 2 1 5 20.5 Magherafelt 7 0 3 4 16 CIYMS B 8 2 0 6 21 Civil Service 7 2 0 5 18 St Agnes A 6 0 1 5 10 Carrick 8 2 0 6 19
"As we saw in yesterday's article there are many ways to lose a chess game. So it must also be true that there are many ways to win a chess game, and we saw some of the classic methods in action in Linares on day three. It's been hard to make it this far without gushing about Alexei Shirov's demolition of Veselin Topalov. We've all seen dozens of brilliant tactical masterpieces by the Latvian-born Spanish GM, but it's rare to see a game at the highest level as purely tactical as this round three thriller. These guys see almost everything and it's rare to see someone just blown away unless they've fallen for some deadly home preparation, blunder terribly, or are playing Gary Kasparov (who usually manages to crush someone in under 30 moves in every tournament he plays in). Shirov sacrificed a pawn for what appeared to be dubious compensation with 10.e5, but this was almost definitely home preparation. Usually in these Scheveningen positions White builds up and looks for a good opportunity to break with e5 or f5, but Shirov's new idea is to just get it out of the way early, sac the e-pawn, and use his superior development in the wide-open position. Topalov didn't have any good squares for his pieces, but it didn't look like White had any concrete threats. But when Topalov rushed to complete his development with 16…0-0 Shirov showed the dangers of the position with 17.Qg3! with a very rare double bishop threat of 18.Bh6 and 18.Bc7. Perhaps surprised by this turn of events Topalov erred again with 17…Kh8, escaping the pin on the g-pawn, but leaving the f7 pawn underprotected. 17…f6 looks a little ugly, but had to be played eventually anyway (to support …e5). After 17…f6 18.Bh6 can be met by …Rf7 and 18.Bc7 Qa7 19.Na4 Bd8!? is playable now as there is no danger to the f-pawn as there is when the black king is on h8 and the f-pawn is on f7 like in the game. The move played allowed Shirov to corner the Black queen and force the win of the exchange. After that it looked like a question of whether White's material advantage would be enough to break through against Black's central pawn chain and two bishops. But never one to use normal means when extraordinary means are available, Shirov unleashed the startling 28.Bxe5!? This move doesn't look too hard to find at first as all the obvious captures fail due to the terrible positions of the black pieces and the back-rank mate threats against the black king. 28…fxe5? 29.Nd6! No square for the rook to run to! 29…Qc6 30.Qxe5! Ne6 31.Qd5 and black is losing a piece and the game. 28…Rxe5?? 29.Qxe5 and it's over. 28…Qxe4 29.Bxd4 Qxc2 30.Rde1 and White has open files for his rooks, Black's bishops have no scope and no hope for counterplay. But what makes 28.Be5 such an amazing move is 28…Nf5!, the only move and one that leaves three of White's pieces hanging! Even the on-line computers couldn't agree on who was winning this one, but Shirov had it all under control. I hope to ask him if he saw everything in this position, but I'd almost be more impressed if he said no! It takes a lot of huevos to play something like this when you're already an exchange ahead. I don’t want to get into all the complications and dozens of lines that I've been looking at here at home, but I'll toss out a few general opinions based on my analysis. The irresistible 29…Ne3 looks worse than the prosaic 29…fxe5 which seems to lead to an even position. 30…Rg8 was a serious error, though one that allowed for a beautiful finish. White retains a large advantage after 30…Qc6, but I can't see an immediate win. 31.Qf3! is even more amazing because Shirov would have to have seen the winning position when he played 28.Bxe5. The smothered mate threat on f7 combined with the discovered attack on the queen is a rare and artistic theme that looks more like a composition than a position from a game between two 2700+ GMs! After 34.Nd6!, Black resigns. The bishop is untouchable thanks to the check on f7, and it's the black knight that finds itself trapped behind enemy lines. On 34…Nxb3 35.Qb3 threatens the f7 knight check again and picks up the wandering steed. (35.Qd5 wins also.) A truly phenomenal combination by Shirov, there were back-rank threats, smothered mates, discovered attacks, pins, piece domination, and just about anything else you can name. "Fire on Board" nothing, his next book my have to be titled "Nuclear Weapon on Board.""
Shirov,A (2710) - Topalov,V (2740) [B42] It Linares ESP (3), 24.02.1998 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Qb6 6.Nb3 Qc7 7.Qe2 Nf6 8.Nc3 d6 9.f4 Be7 10.e5 dxe5 11.fxe5 Nfd7 12.Bf4 Nc6 13.0-0 Ndxe5 14.Rae1 Qb6+ 15.Kh1 Nxd3 16.Qxd3 0-0 17.Qg3 Kh8 18.Bc7 Qa7 19.Na4 f6 20.Bb6 Qb8 21.Bc7 Qa7 22.Nb6 e5 23.Nxa8 Qxa8 24.Rd1 Re8 25.Bd6 Bd8 26.Nc5 b6 27.Ne4 Nd4 28.Bxe5 Nf5 29.Qg4 Ne3 30.Qh5 Rg8 31.Qf3 Nxd1 32.Nd6 Qa7 33.Nxc8 Qd7 34.Nd6 1-0
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