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Gabriel Sargissian vs Alexey Shirov
Isle of Man Masters (2016), Douglas IMN, rd 9, Oct-09
King's Indian Attack: Keres Variation (A07)  ·  1/2-1/2

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Oct-09-16  Jamboree: Wow! What a defensive brilliancy on Shirov's part to save the draw!

Starting after white's 62nd move, it looks like black is in serious trouble because he's all tied up and the only way to ever release the bind by taking the h-pawn will allow white to take the f6 pawn and thereafter win the game.

But Shirov must have seen 17 moves into the future to play 62. ... Rxh7!!?, seeing that seven moves later after 69. Nxb4 he had 69. ... Kd4!! declining the free piece for the sake of a single tempo, and then four more moves later after 73. Kc2 he had 72. ,,, Ka3!, and white amazingly has no way to stutterstep and lose a tempo, so black can perpetually keep threatening the a-pawn and thus the knight can never move, leading to a forced draw by repetition!

It's not as flashy as his other attacking brilliancies because it only leads to a draw and starts from a worse position, but it truly must have been a deep combination he calculated to save the game. Another Shirov classic!

Oct-10-16  NBZ: Very beautiful play from Shirov. It is rare to see endings of such high quality nowadays.
Oct-11-16  luzhin: Actually Shirov's concept should have lost: 67.c5! wins ie. 67.. Kf4 68.c6 Bd6 69.Nf6 Kg5 70.Ne8! But it's still an amazing concept-- and not because of any draw by repetition. The final point is that after 79...Kd3! the Black King gets back in time to stop the White a-pawn from promoting. This, to me, is the real beauty.
Oct-11-16  NBZ: Thanks for the line <luzhin>, yes that looks very winning.

I can understand why Sargissian played 67. Nxe5. If I had been in his place my thought process would run "OK I can play 67. Nxe5 and black can't play 67. ... Kf4 because of Nd3+ and Nxb4. So I am two pawns up which looks very good. Let me see if Black can still try to hold with 67. ... Kf6 or 67. ... Bc3, hmm...." I seriously doubt that I would consider 69. ... Kd4 when playing 67. ... Nxe5. Now I am not a quarter the player that Sargissian is, but 4 hours into the game and close to the end, it's a natural oversight.

According to Chessbase Sargissian was completely devastated at the end, he could not even look Shirov in the eye when shaking hands with him.

Oct-12-16  luzhin: You are right: towards the end of a grueling game in the final round of a tough tournament, it is no disgrace to have missed Shirov's idea. These are humans, not computers.

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