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Alexey Shirov vs Judit Polgar
Eurotel Trophy (1999), Prague CZE, rd 3, Jul-14
Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. English Attack Anti-English (B90)  ·  1-0

8
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White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
1-0

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
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Kibitzer's Corner
Mar-14-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  tpstar: tpstar-NN (QueenAlice 3/13/06) [Fritz 7]: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cd 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 Bg7 10. h3 Ne5 11. Nf5 Bxf5 12. exf5 Nbc6 13. Nd5 e6 14. fe fe 15. Ne3 0-0 16. Be2 [last book move] Nd4


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17. Bh5 [17. c3 Nf5 18. Nxf5 Rxf5 ] Rc8 [17 ... Qb6 18. Rb1 =] 18. 0-0 Nf5 19. Nxf5 Rxf5 20. c3 1-0 (abandoned).

My first game with 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 which opens up Black's Kingside. 16 ... Nd4 is a clever resource; 17. Qxd4?? Nf3+ wins the Queen. I tried 17. Bh5 based on Kasimdzhanov vs Anand, 2005 to preserve the lsb for later, then on 20 ... Qb6 21. Qe2 (21. Qd2?! Nc4) followed by Rad1 & Rfe1 attacking Black's small center.

Mar-14-06  TimLo: 35...Re6 seems to offer more resistance. White can win back rook, but it takes time and Black has chances for opposite bishop endings and Queen perpetuals.
Jan-10-11  okiesooner: After 35...Re6, how about 36. Qd7 (as opposed to the immediate 36. Bxe6)? White is threatening to win the Knight. If 36...Kh8 37. Qxe6 Qxe6 38. Bxe6, and then 38...Nh6 is the only move to save the Knight, after which White should have no difficulty queening the a-Pawn.
Jan-01-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  plang: Game 3 of their 6 game match won by Shirov 5.5-0.5. The sharper 10 Be2 was played in game 1; Shirov's 10 h3 is now considered to be the main line though at the time of this game it was a relatively new idea. 11 Nf5 was a new idea; 11 Be2 had been played in Svidler- Van Wely Groningen 1995 (Black won - the first game where 10 h3 was played). 13..Nd4? 14 f6 would have cost Black a piece. Taking the pawn with 18..Qxb2 may have been a better choice for Black since the interpolation 18..Rf5 19 c3 worked to Whites benefit. 22..Raf8?! 23 Rxf7..Rxf7 24 Rc1..Rb7 25 Qxb7..Qxc1+ 26 Kh2 would have been good for White. After 29..h4? ceding the g4 square Black was lost; either 29..Nf5 or 29..g4 were tougher defenses.

<TimLo: 35...Re6 seems to offer more resistance. White can win back rook, but it takes time and Black has chances for opposite bishop endings and Queen perpetuals.>

Shirov gives 36 Qd7 with no explanation: 36..Nd4 37 Bxd4..Bxd4 38 Bxe6+..Kf8 39 Qd8+..Qe8 40 Qxd4..Qxe6 was the best I could come up with though it looks sufficient.

Jul-31-14  Nerwal: <Shirov's 10 h3 is now considered to be the main line though at the time of this game it was a relatively new idea. 11 Nf5 was a new idea; 11 Be2 had been played in Svidler- Van Wely Groningen 1995 (Black won - the first game where 10 h3 was played).>

Indeed this is a very important game for the theory of the 6. ♗e3 ♘g4 Najdorf variation as from there 10. h3 completely superseded 10. ♗e2. Prior to it 10. ♗e2 h5 11. ♗xg4 had been the overwhelming choice of the white players, but soon they switched to 10. h3 ♘e5 11. ♘f5 as normal continuations lead to a position with many structural weaknesses for black (as in Anand vs Gelfand, 2000 and Shirov vs Gelfand, 2000). As a result 6... ♘g4 lost some of its appeal and Black often went back to the classical 6... e5. It took Topalov's double piece sacrifice to switch the trend (Svidler vs Topalov, 2005), and White started to pay more attention to 10. h3 ♘e5 11. f3 ♘bc6 12. ♗f2, although Shirov's 11. ♘f5 is still played.

Mar-17-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  plang: For some reason all 6 games in the match are listed in this database as being Rapids games played on July 11. I am sceptical of this. Another source gives this as a classical match played between July 10 and July 18th which was my assumption back in 2014 when I was looking at the games. Unfortunately, I no longer have the magazine (probably New In Chess) that can prove this.
Mar-18-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  Stonehenge: See https://theweekinchess.com/html/twi...

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