| Feb-15-04 |
| chessblaster9: the coordination of black's pieces is incredible. |
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Feb-15-04
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| talchess2003: Although, Shabalov's play after winning the queen was not so good. I am not being harsh on him, I just understand that his mind probably relaxed after winning the queen... it happens to all chess players, even those at the top of the ladder... and caused him to enter more innovative and complicated lines.. where he should have played more conservatively. I believe his advantage may have been enough to look for a win.. the queen to three pieces could be taken for even, but he was also up a pawn and and black's pawn structure was ugly. Im impressed that on 23. g3 black did not take the draw here, after 23... Ra1+. For white basically cannot decline, as 24. Kb1 R1a2+ 25. Kc3 R2a3+ 26. Kc4 d5+ 27. Kb5 Be3 does not look so good for white, with solid threats of winning the queen or checkmate.. I would not have been so confident as Gelfand, that I could pull off a win in that position as black. But then again, there may have been some psychological influences on them too. |
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| Apr-06-04 |
| parinda: what an amazingly complex display of chess by two veterans of the royal game....starting from shabalov's bold 12.Nd5 knight sacrifice...down to gelfand's king walk to the 7th rank to win the game!. . .as for psychological influences talchess3000. . i know they played a game recently (i'm not sure if it predates this one) in the (SHABALOV!) slav where gelfand as white took up the gauntlet and in a dangerously complex position won against that openings founder (incidentally, shabalov is known to have said that he thinks g4 in the slav is dubious for white). . .so gelfand was saying basically. .show me YOUR opening is dubious for white. . .you gotta admire the hubris. . of course backed up by 2700 play never hurts the cause either. .but even in that game shabalov had his chances. . .but missed opportunities against top caliber players is a rather common theme among lesser grandmasters. .except this game was more like a roller coaster ride according to fritz.. with white maintaining the edge for the most part of this game. .and i agree with you. i would have bailed as black and taken the draw! |
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| Apr-06-04 |
| parinda: p.s. having just checked on that other game i did find that it predated this game by a whole 6 days . . .so this was the 2nd game played by them at the bermuda open. . .the 1st being the shabalov slav game |
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Feb-10-05
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| Open Defence: I think Black was ok after the Queen sac, any thoughts anyone ? |
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Jul-28-05
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| patzer2: White's 15. b4! practically forces Black's positional Queen sacrifice 15...Qxb5!? for the three pieces. Fritz 8 rates it slightly in White's favor after 18. Qd3  , but Black's compensation seems sufficient to keep it an unbalanced struggle with chances for both sides. |
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Jul-28-05
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| acirce: From John Nunn's "The Complete Najdorf: 6.Bg5":
15.b4 <Taking the queen gives White a theoretical material advantage, but Black's minor pieces are very active. White has a safer (and possibly better) alternative in 15.Nxf6+ Kd8 (15..Ke7 16.Bxd7 Bg7 17.Nh5 Bxb2+ 18.Kxb2 Rab8 19.Kc1 Kxd7 20.f5 e5 21. Qb3 Ke7 22.f6+ Kd7 23.Qxf7+ Kc8 24.Qb3  Lehtinen-Vasiliev, corr 1989) 16.Nxd7 (16.Bxd7 Be7! 17.Qb3 Bxf6 18.Qxb7 Ra7  ) Qxb5 17.Nxf8 Rxf8 18.Qa3! (18.Rxd6+ Kc7).> 18.Qh5 is not mentioned; 18.Qd3 leads to a line where the verdict is "unclear". Nakamura vs Gelfand, 2005 for 15.Nxf6+ |
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Jul-28-05
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| patzer2: <acirce> Thanks for your research and the insights from a Super GM opening specialist in this line. |
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| Aug-28-08 |
| sicilianhugefun: gelfand played almost like kasparov |
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sac: 20...fxe5
