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Good day everyone,w elcome to the Chessdom live coverage of the 2008 Morelia Linares. The tournament is entering its final stage and the main question is if Magnus Carlsen could dethrone Vishy Anand from the first place. However, other games will be also interesting. Shirov and Radjabov played a weird King's Indian defence in the first leg, Radjabov lost a pawn without compensation (is it possible that he mixed the lines), but one small Shirov's mistake almost brought him back to the equality. Shirov ultimately won the game and Radjabov will certainly look for revenge today.
1.e4!? c5 2.Nf3 d6!? Both players are experts for Sveshnikov Sicilian with black, but we won't get to see that today.
3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 Shirov goes for the Naidorf Sicilian. Radjabov had some crazy games in the Poisoned Pawn after 6. Bg5 at the last year Corus. Other players tried to follow the pattern, but this fashion didn't last too long as mighty computers found improvements for black.
6.Be2!? The long time favorite of Anatoly Karpov. Nigel Short still plays it regularly and other players are also exploring its possibilities. In this computer era, it is much easier to play for small advantage with Be2 than diving into wild complications after Bg5.
6... e5 (6... e6 this would be transposition to the Sheveningen variation.)
7.Nb3 (7.Nf3 is interesting alternative, and now black is already 'forced' to prevent Bg5 with 7... h6 otherwise, white gets a strong grip on the d5 square.)
7... Be7 8.Bg5!? A favorite line of inspired attacker Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, and even Mihail Tal had this position with both colors. Bg5 is not that dangerous now, compared to 7. Nf3 line, most popular are 8. 0-0 and 8. Be3.
8... Be6 Of course, est for black is not to waste any time for h6 and simply continue with the natural development (Be6 or Nbd7). White will take on f6 sooner or later, otherwise he can't play Nd5.
9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.Qd3 (10.Nd5 Nd7 11.O-O O-O 12.Qd3 Rc8 13.c3 Bg5 14.Rad1 as seen in Averbakh-Petrosian and Unziker-Fischer. )
10... Nc6 (10... O-O 11.O-O-O Be7 12.Nd5 Bxd5 13.Qxd5 Qc7 14.Kb1 Nd7 15.h4 Rac8 ended in a draw in Nisipeanu-Berkes.) ( Dortmund 2005 winner Arkadij Naiditsch tried to prevent the long castle with 10... Bg5!? 11.Rd1 Nc6 12.Qxd6 Qxd6 13.Rxd6 Ke7 14.Rd1 Nb4 15.Bd3 and he lost this game, even if compensation in this position was sufficient.)
11.O-O-O Nd4 (11... Be7 might look passive at the first glance, but this is exactly what Vishy Anand played against Vladimir Kramnik once 12.Kb1 O-O 13.Nd5 Bg5 (13... Bxd5!?) 14.h4 (14.g3!?) 14... Bxh4 15.g3 Bf6 16.Qf3 Bg5 17.Qh5 h6 18.f4 Bf6 19.Nd2 Nd4 the game ended in a draw later)
12.Nxd4 exd4 13.Nd5 Bxd5 14.exd5 O-O 15.Qf3 Re8 (15... d3 16.Bxd3 Be5 is an intere sting attempt to open the diagonal, but Black didn't score well. Even GM Emil Sutovsky, who is big expert for Naidorf Sicilian, lost a game from this position.)
16.Bd3 Re5 Black is preparing to win the d5 pawn,
17.Kb1 Qa5 18.g4 Qxd5 this didn't prove good on the Grandmaster level, as Areshchenko and Smeets lost their games to Kulaots and Navara. Probably Shirov has some improvements on his mind.
19.Qxd5 Rxd5 20.f4 Radjabov will exploit clumsy positions of Rd5 and Bf6.
20... Bh4!? An effort to improve black's prospects. Main problem is that this bishop will be lacking space after white plays g5, and Shirov simply takes it outside. Also, Bh4 is controlling e1, and white would love to have his rook there. The problem is that Rd5 might be in trouble because of this time waste. Radjabov is now calculating 21. b4 with idea Bc4 to trap the rook. (20... g5) (20... Rc5 21.g5 Bd8 22.Be4!? d5 23.Bf3 with small advantage for white.)
21.b4! Alright! Let's see how is Shirov intending to save his rook. There are some ideas with Rc8 and to push d4-d3 when white plays Be4 (dxc2+ is a fork on the Rd1).
21... Rc8 22. c4 would be a 'safer way', 22...dxc3 23. Bxh7+ Kxh7 24. Rxd5 c2+ 25. Kc1. More complicated is 22. a4 Rc3 24. Be4 d3 24. Kb2 (as suggested by GM Gustafsson) Rxc2+ 25. Kb3 Rd4 26. Bxd3, but white seems to be on the top.
22.a4! Rc3 23. Be4 is the most straightforward continuation. White can also prepare with 23. Kb2 or 23. Rc1, only then black can play 23...f5!? (with idea to prevent Be4, and when white takes gxf5, future Bf6 won't be threatened by g4-g5)
23.Kb2!? (23.Be4 d3 24.Kb2 Rxc2+ 25.Kb3 Rd4 26.Bxd3 and with Bxh7+ in the air, black can't save both rooks.)
23... f5!? the only move, 24. Bxf5 Re3 will be escape, so probably 24. gxf5 and then black will sacrifice the exchange. (23... Bf6?! 24.Be4 d3 25.Bxd5 Rc5+ 26.Kb3 Rxd5 27.Rxd3 is decisive advantage for white)
24.gxf5 Rxd3 25.cxd3 (25.Rxd3 Rxf5 26.Rf1 Bf6 (26... Bg5 27.Kb3 Rxf4 28.Rxf4 Bxf4 29.Rxd4 Bxh2))
25... Rxf5 26.Rc1! Rxf4 27.Rhf1 This is forcing rooks exchange and white is simply winning. Obviously, 20...Bh4 was unsuccessful experiment.
27... Rxf1 28.Rxf1 The main problem for black is that Radjabov will simply continue Rc1 and collect the queenside pawns.
28... Bd8 29.a5! Blocking the pawn on b7 to collect it after Rc1-c8-b8. 29...b6 fails to 30. b5! and white makes a passer. (29.Rc1 Kf7 30.Rc8 Ke7 31.Rb8 b6 32.Rb7+ is another simple way to finish this adventure.) And we have it confirmed that Shirov has resigned! An efficient win for Radjabov who harshly refuted Shirov's attempt to improve the variation. Thank you everyone for following the commentary, live coverage continues with Aronian-Carlsen.
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