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Viktor Korchnoi vs Alexey Shirov
Buenos Aires Najdorf (1993), Buenos Aires ARG, rd 5, Apr-??
King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation. Classical System Misc. Lines (E98)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Oct-29-13  hellopolgar: Viktor Korchnoi was 62 years old at the time...
Oct-29-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: <hellopolgar> Yes, but when it came to beating up the KID, Korchnoi always became 20 again.
Oct-30-13  RookFile: This looks like man vs. boy. Shirov was totally outplayed in this game.
Oct-30-13  SimonWebbsTiger: There is a little section on Korchnoi versus the KID in Kasparov's "On My Great Predecessors." Garry concludes that section noting Viktor thinks the KID is "a flexible opening", only Black should choose 7...Nbd7 in the classical variation.

Korchnoi has also introduced and played: 13. Nb5 (idea Nb5-a7); 13. a4; and 13. Rc1 Ng6 14. c5 here!

Also, Korchnoi has played 13. c5 g5 and now 14. cxd6 cxd6 15. Kh1 Ng6 16. Rc1 and 14. Rc1.

Whilst 16. Nb5 is a novelty; he played 16. b4 in a game versus Kasparov.

Versatile and innovative Viktor!

The big mistake of the game is 30...Rc8. 30...Rf8! (Shirov) maintained the balance.

Nov-14-14  Nf3em: after 39... Rxc3 (which is forced as other Rook moves e.g. 39... Rxd5 losses to 40.Rc8! ...) 40.Qg7+ Qxg7 41.hxg7+ Kxg7 42.Nxc3 followed by 43.Ne4 and 44.Nd6 with an easy win for White ...
Mar-27-21  Gaito:


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BLACK TO MOVE

This seems to have been a critical position where Black's game began to deteriorate from roughly equal to slightly worse, to downright worse, in just three or four consecutive moves.

Shirov played 30...Rc8. It looks good and playable, but it isn't clear what plan he had in mind. Another more concrete idea would be to play 30...Rf8 with a view to preparing an eventual advance of the central e and f-pawns.

30...Rc8 31.Bxd5!

Korchnoi's positional judgement was extraordinary. Most players would probably have preferred to keep the bishop pair. But then Shirov made a clear mistake: he recaptured with the knight, leaving his queen on a very uncofortable position, in view of the threat Rc2.

31....Nxd5? 32.Rc2 (±/+ −)

Mar-27-21  Gaito: After 32.Rc2, the reply Nc3 was practically forced, and this enabled Korchnoi to start undertaking nasty threats against Black's vulnerable King, who lay bared and helpless on a corner and with a complex of weakened light squares in the neighborhood (the remnants of a failed K-side offensive that never took place).

33.Qg4! (+ −)


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Mar-27-21  Gaito:


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WHITE TO MOVE

Viktor Korchnoi (like Reshevsky) belonged to the club of time-trouble addicts, and it is very likely that he had just a few minutes (or seconds) on his clock, and so played quickly 34.Nd3?!, missing the much stronger 34.Nf3! where the knight would be ready to jump to h4 or g5 in order to help the queen to deliver the final blow or "coup de grâce", as the French call it. But 34.Nd3 also sufficed to win.

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