Shirov advances to final

Leon, June 3: Grandmaster Alexei Shirov of Spain blanked compatriot Miguel Illescas Cardoba 2-0 to enter the final of the four-player Adva...

Leon, June 3: Grandmaster Alexei Shirov of Spain blanked compatriot Miguel Illescas Cardoba 2-0 to enter the final of the four-player Advanced Chess tournament. World No 4 Shirov was in top form in both the games on Friday and will now play winner of the second match between Indian GM Viswanathan Anand and Judit Polgar of Hungary in the event in which players have one hour to complete the game and can use identical computers.

In the ensuing middlegame, Illescas sacrificed a pawn to initiate a queen-side attack but Shirov dominated the board with a knight sortie that netted him a rook for a bishop.

Desperate attempts to checkmate by Illescas were thwarted in copy book fashion and Shirov emerged with an extra rook to win the game in 31 moves.

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Shirov faced Meran Variation of Slav defence in the second game and the players raced through the first 15 moves in no time. In a dynamically balanced position, Illescas strayed from the Tonan vs Pavosovic game played in 1998 and went for a more subtle Bd2 move.

The position became unclear as Illescas sacrificed a pawn on 24th move to launch an attack against the King. Regular exchange of pieces helped Shirov build his position and in the queen and rook endgame his extra pawn proved decisive.

Moves

Game 1: Alexei Shirov vs Miguel Illescas
1. E4 C6, 2. D4 D5, 3. E5 Bf5, 4. C3 E6, 5. Be3 Qb6, 6.Qbe Nd7, 7. Nd2 Ne7, 8. F4 Qc7, 9. Ngf3 C5, 10. dxc5 Nc6, 11. Qa3 B6, 12. B4 bxc5, 13. bxc5 Rb8, 14. Nb3 Be7, 15. Nfd4 Bh4+, 16. G3 Be4. 17 Rg1 Be7, 18. Qa4 Nxd4, 19. cxd4 F6 20. Bb5 fxe5, 21 fxe5 Rxbs, 22. Qxb5 0-0. 23. Qa6 Bf5, 24. G4 Bh+, 25. Kd2 Bg6. 26 Qxe6+ Bf7, 27. Qd6 Qb7, 28. C6 Qb5, 29. cxd7 Bg6, 30. Kc3 Qd3, 31. Kb4 Bd8 black resigns

Game 2: Miguel Illescas vs Alexei Shirov
1. D4 D5, 2. C4 C6, 3. Nc3 Nf6, 4. E3 E6, 5. Nf3 Nbd7, 6.Bd3 dxc4, 7. Bxc4 B5, 8. Bd3 Bb7, 9 0-0 a6, 10. E4 C5, 11. D5 Qc7, 12. dxe6 fxe6, 13, Bc2 Bd6, 14. Ng5 Nf8, 15. F4 0-0, 16. Qel E5, 17. F5 H6 18. Nf3 N8D7, 19. Bd2 C4, 20. Rc1 Qc6, 21. a4 Nc5, 22. axbs axb5, 23. Be3 B4, 24. Nd5 Nxd5, 25. exd5 Qxd5, 26. Qe2 Kb8, 27. Bb1 Nd3, 28. Bxd3 cxd3, 29. Qf2 Rc8, 30. Ba7+ Ka8, 31. Ra1 Rc6, 32. Rfe1 Ba6, 33. Be3 Kb7, 34. Qg3 G5, 35. Qh3 Rhc8, 36. Nd2 Bc5, 37. Bxc5 Qxc5+, 38. Kh1 Qf2, 39. Red1 Kb8, 40. Nb3 E4, 41. Rf1 Qxb4, 42 Qg3+ Ka, 43 Nc5 Qf6, 44. Nxa6 Rxa6, 45 Rxa6 Qxa6, 46. Qe3 Qb7 white resigns.

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