| Jan-15-11 | | Eyal: Up to 21...Rb6 they repeated very quickly a line with which Shirov drew in last year's tournament - Ivanchuk vs Shirov, 2010. Then Smeets tried 22.Bd7 instead of Ivanchuk's 22.Qd5, and managed to confuse Shirov, who, a move later, already made a losing blunder with 23...Ra8? (better would be 23...f6, for example). After 24.Nc6! he could have tried 24...Qc3, but then 25.Ne7+ Kh8 26.Nd5 Qb3 27.Qxb3 (27.Nxb6? Qxd1+ 28.Rxd1 Ra1) 27...Rxb3 28.Rgxb2 Rxb2 29.Rxb2 with the c pawn falling shortly also seems hopeless. |
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| Jan-15-11 | | messachess: Well, congratulations to Smeets, but it looks like 'fire on the board' to me. Go Shirov! |
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| Jan-15-11 | | Captain Hindsight: The fastest win of the round was for Dutch champion Jan Smeets who sprung a theoretical novelty on Spain’s Alexei Shirov at the 22nd move of their Ruy Lopez. Playing black, Shirov was copying a game which had earned him an easy half point in last year’s tournament, unaware that Smeets had given it special attention. <Just to make sure it really worked, my second and I had even checked the idea only half an hour before the start of the round>, Smeets said. <You can imagine how glad I was when the line came onto the board. Shirov didn’t see it coming. When he realized how strong it was, he sacrificed a piece for three pawns. But that was far from enough. He resigned three moves later.> http://www.tatasteelchess.com/tourn... |
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| Jan-15-11 | | crazybird: <Magnus Carlsen: In Bilbao I put a knight on a7 against Shirov and posed problems he couldn't solve, and the same happened today yielding Smeets the full point> |
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| Jan-15-11 | | swr: Smeets put out the fire. |
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| Jan-15-11 | | PokerPro: Hi wats wrong with 11.Na7? |
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| Jan-16-11 | | dfelix: <PokerPro> 11...Na7 12.dxe5 Nxe4 13.Qf4 forking e4 and f7 (or just 12...dxe5 13 Qxd8 Kxd8 14 Nxe5). |
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| Jan-16-11 | | newzild: For a Super-Grandmaster, the theoretical novelty came on move 22. For me, it came on move 7, with a4. I might start playing it myself, to get away from the main line. |
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| Jan-16-11 | | Llawdogg: Wow! Some Dutch style home cooking. But didn't Nakamura win game of the day honors and the five hundred euros bonus that goes with it? |
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| Jan-16-11 | | The Chess Express: Heh, I've gotten to the point where the complexity of the Ruy Lopez has forced me to give it a break in OTB games. There's just too much. Kasparov once said that if you've never played the Ruy Lopez you've never played chess, and he was right. This game shows what top level tournament chess is all about. Hats off to Smeets. |
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| Jan-16-11 | | sfm: "...who sprung a theoretical novelty on Spain’s Alexei Shirov at the 22nd move..."
OMG! I really like Fischerrandom. You have to think from the very first move. |
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| Jan-16-11 | | Captain Hindsight: Better would have been 23... f6 24. Bxh6 d5! 25. Nc6 Qd6 26. Qxd5 Qxd5 27. exd5 Ra8 = |
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| Jan-16-11 | | Captain Hindsight: Better would have been 23... h6 24. Bxh6 d5! 25. Nc6 Qd6 26. Qxd5 Qxd5 27. exd5 Ra8 = |
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Jan-16-11
 | | Penguincw: This is a short game. Shirov really messed up in this game. |
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Jan-16-11
 | | scormus: Tactics on either side of move 20 are very tricky. I dont know this variation at all, and I was completely lost as to which piece would be moved and where to. 19 ... Bxc2 looks like a neat trick, but its the sort of shot that can backfire in the melee of the next moves. I can understand 22. Bd7 having an unsettling effect on B. |
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| Jan-16-11 | | Ulhumbrus: The move 22 Bd7!! is the first of an entire group of three moves, of which the second and third moves consist of the Knight manoeuvre Nb5-a7-c6. The move takes the flight square e6 away from Black's Queen, which is running short of flight squares, and in addition to this it both clears the square c6 for the manoeuvre Nb5-c6 as well as supporting it there. |
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| Jan-16-11 | | Lennonfan: 11.na7 looks good to me! |
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| Jan-18-11 | | kevin86: White picks up material... |
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Nov-26-11
| | Penguincw: White is up a rook for three pawns. Looks like a win. It is a win. |
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Kibitzing
