Chess

When two highly imaginative players meet in a rapid game, the results can be highly entertaining. The game between Jon Speelman and Alexei Shirov from a recent Quickplay event in Bordeaux (25 minutes per player for the entire game) was quite extraordinary from start to finish.

Shirov's 6...Ne7 was quite outrageous, even for a quickplay game. If getting a rook on to a half-open file were good value for a pawn, then the pawn would be facing a severe devaluation. But Shirov's plan of Rg8, h5, Bxf3 and h4 was at least enough to inject some confusion into the game.

Speelman's 12.Re1 was either an oversight or a conscious decision to return the pawn in order to gain two bishops against two knights. I suspect an oversight is the more likely. After 12...dxc4, White cannot recapture the pawn without giving Black the chance to play hxg3 followed by Bxg3 and, if the bishop is then captured, Qb6+ regaining the bishop on b2.

As the Q-side became more open, White seemed to have good attacking chances, but nothing concrete ever materialised until Speelman saw a chance for a combination. With 22.Qe4 he saw that either 22...Nxb2 or 22...Nd2 could be met by 23.Rxc6+! when 23...bxc6 24.Qxc6+ or 23...Kb8 24.Rc8+! forces mate.

Shirov, however, calculated it all a little more deeply. After 22...Nd2 23.Rxc6+ Kd7! White had too many pieces attacked. Speelman did the best he could by giving up his queen, but Shirov returned it to reach an easily won endgame. Great fun.

White: Jon Speelman

Black: Alexei Shirov

1 Nf3 d5 21 Rec1 Ndb6

2 g3 Bg4 22 Qe4 Nd2

3 Bg2 Nd7 23 Rxc6+ Kd7

4 0-0 e6 24 Rxb6 Nxe4

5 b3 Bd6 25 Rxb7+ Kc8

6 Bb2 Ne7 26 Bxe4 Qxb1+

7 Bxg7 Rg8 27 Bxb1 Kxb7

8 Bb2 h5 28 f5 exf5

9 c4 Bxf3 29 Bxf5 a5

10 exf3 h4 30 Bc2 Rge8

11 Nc3 c6 31 Kf1 Kb6

12 Re1 dxc4 32 g4 Kb5

13 Ne4 Nf5 33 Bb3 Rd7

14 Nxd6+ Nxd6 34 Ba3 a4

15 f4 hxg3 35 Ba2 Re4

16 hxg3 Qb6 36 Bc5 Rxg4

17 d4 0-0-0 37 f3 Rh4

18 Rb1 Qa5 38 Kg2 f6

19 Qc2 Qxa2 39 Kg3 Rhxd4

20 bxc4 Nxc4 White resigned