[Event "SuperGM"]
[Site "Linares ESP"]
[Date "2002.03.07"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Black "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[Annotator "Hathaway, Mark"]
[BlackElo "2727"]
[ECO "D20"]
[WhiteElo "2715"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 { This is more aggressive than 3. Nf3, but it also offers Black more choices for defense. Common responses are 3...c5, 3...e5 or 3...Nf6. All of them challenge White's central pawns immediately. There were a couple of these played in the FIDE wch match of Ivanchuk and Ponomariov. If White is allowed time to develop pieces to support his pawns then Black would have real problems. It's essential to know precisely what White's pawn formation is, so that Black's developments will be most effective. If White can keep his pawns as a duo they might advance in any fashion to foil Black's early developments. } 3... Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. Bxc4 Nb6 6. Bd3 { Now Black knows not to fianchetto either bishop. Instead ...Bc8-e6-d5 followed by ...e7-e6, ...c7-c5 and ...Nb8-c6 would be coherent and apply terrific pressure to White's central pawns. Incidentally Pd4 isn't en prise because 6...Qxd4 is met decisively by 7. Bb5+. } 6... Nc6 7. Be3 { White's early pawn advances and Bishop developments creates a curious appearance and flaunts the classical rule of developing knights before bishops. } ( 7. Nf3 $2 Bg4 ) ( 7. Ne2 { has also been tried } ) 7... Nb4 8. Be4 f5 { Black too does some non-classical things: moving knights multiple times and now weakening Ke8 with ...f7-f5. It's often difficult to explain the rationale for such play. In this case Black can't get Bc8 developed as early as he'd like, so he uses Pf5 to control light squares. Black has to stake out control of the light squares to fix White's central pawns in place, then the assault on them would begin. This also explains why Black doesn't move ...Nb4-d5. He needs to leave open the possibility of ...c7-c5xd4, so control of d5 is sufficient; he doesn't have to occupy the square. } 9. exf6 exf6 { This is a dramatic change of the landscape. White doesn't continue with the central pawns now that he's gained a concession (king's weakness) from Black. Now piece play can become prevalent. White would probably like to play Qd1-h5+, but he can't afford to until he's hobbled Nb4. It threatens to jump into c2 if White walks away from that square. } 10. Nc3 ( 10. a3 f5 ( 10... N4d5 $2 11. Qh5+ ) 11. Bf3 N4d5 12. Bd2 ) 10... f5 $1 { Consistently Black uses a pawn to block Be4 and this incidentally (and usefully) prevents Qd1-h5+ from being effective. Now Nb4 could retreat if necessary. } 11. Bb1 N4d5 12. Nf3 { It doesn't look like any stodgy closed Queen's Gambit Declined! } 12... Bd6 ( 12... Nxe3 13. fxe3 Bd6 { creates the backward Pe3 (probably temporary) and takes aim at the king-side, but it doesn't put any sustained pressure on White } ) ( 12... Bb4 { attempts to apply pressure without allowing immediate simplification. It also allows Black to meet Be3-g5 with ...Qd8-d6 or ...Nd5-f6 } 13. Bg5 Qd6 14. Qe2+ Be6 15. Bxf5 Nxc3 { is certainly a confusing mess for tacticians (and computer programs) to solve } ) 13. Bg5 Be7 { Black immediately moves the bishop again, but White has moved his bishop twice also. And, who should be concerned about how many times a piece has moved after all the other peculiar-looking maneuvers which preceded this? Most importantly Black threatens Bg5 and keeps Ke8 safe. } 14. Bd2 { Now who's lost the tempo? } 14... O-O 15. O-O Nxc3 ( 15... f4 { finally frees Bc8 to develop, but opens the b1-h7 diagonal. I'd say Black is well enough developed to handle White's few tactics with Rf8 ready to support ...Bc8-f5 and Nd5 well supported, so no pin can do damage. } 16. Qb3 ( 16. Qc2 Bf5 17. Qb3 Bg4 18. Be4 c6 ) 16... Bf5 { Preventing Bb1-e4xd5 from being a problem is one Black option. He might also choose ...Bc8-g4xf3 to begin an offensive against Kg1. } ) 16. bxc3 Be6 17. Re1 Bd5 { Oddly, the position closely resembles one arising from a Petrov's Defense. } 18. Bd3 ( 18. Ne5 ) 18... Nc4 19. Bxc4 { It's a sad day for White when he has to trade his good bishop for a lowly knight, and Black continues his light square control. } 19... Bxc4 20. Ne5 Bf7 21. Nxf7 { Well, at least he gets the bishop back. This simplifies the game considerably and White's multiple pawn "islands" is balanced to some extent by Black's slightly weakened king's position. } 21... Rxf7 22. Qb3 c5 { Finally (!) , there's the crucial strike at Pd4. Of course it's different than if it had occurred early in the game. But, opening the position and getting rid of another White pawn will leave White with an isolated pawn, a much easier target. This is an example of attacking the pawn chain at it's head, Nimcovics (Nimzovitch) wouldn't have given this as an example of excellent play, but he also played such things. } 23. d5 $1 { If White gets time for c3-c4 he'll have made Bf6 worse by blocking Pc5 which blocks Be7. It also removes the pawns from dark squares where they're targets. } 23... b5 { Black has to prevent c3-c4 and in so doing offers a pawn trade which would give White a slightly better bishop (after 24. Qxb5 Qxd5 25. Bf4) if he can target Bc5 without ...f5-f4 chasing it off the e3-c5 diagonal. } ( 23... Bf6 24. Rad1 Qd6 25. c4 $14 ) 24. Re6 { If Ponomariov had the White pieces he might well have played the same move. Both these players will go to extremes, at times, to gain the initiative for their pieces. In this case Black can work to isolate Pd5 and block Qb3 over on the queen-side, several tempi from the central action. } ( 24. c4 bxc4 25. Qxc4 $14 ) 24... Qd7 25. Rae1 c4 $5 ( 25... Kf8 ) 26. Qd1 Rd8 27. Qe2 Qxd5 28. Rxe7 Rxe7 29. Qxe7 Qxd2 { This particular simplification has left the weakness of Kg8 more noticable, but Black's incursion at Qd2 which threatens Pc3 is consistent with his plan to make something of the extra queen-side pawn. The balance is still there. } 30. Qe6+ Kf8 ( 30... Kh8 $4 31. Qe8+ Rxe8 32. Rxe8# ) 31. Qxf5+ Kg8 32. Qe6+ Kf8 33. Qe7+ Kg8 34. Qe6+ Kf8 35. h4 { He can afford this because Pc3 is poison. } 35... Qd7 { Black wants a queen trade to end the threats to Kf8. That would make it easier for him to redirect attention to his queen-side pawns. } ( 35... Qxc3 36. Qe7+ Kg8 37. Qxd8+ { captured with check, so Re1 isn't captured } 37... Kf7 38. Qe8+ Kf6 39. Qe6# ) 36. Qa6 { The attack on Kf8 has to take a break and this move prevents Black from putting his Pa7 into motion. } 36... Qd2 37. Qe6 Qd7 38. Qe5 { Apparently he doesn't want to just repeat moves; but this is risky. } 38... Re8 39. Qc5+ { White prefers to make something of his ability to threaten (or at least to check) Black's king with queen & rook. } ( 39. Qxe8+ Qxe8 40. Rxe8+ Kxe8 41. Kf1 a5 42. a3 Ke7 43. g4 Kd6 44. Ke2 Kc5 45. f4 b4 46. cxb4+ axb4 47. axb4+ Kxb4 48. Kd2 c3+ 49. Kc2 Kc4 50. f5 Kd4 51. g5 Ke5 52. f6 gxf6 53. gxf6 Kxf6 54. Kxc3 Kg6 55. Kd3 Kh5 56. Ke3 Kxh4 57. Kf2 $11 ) 39... Kg8 40. Rxe8+ { Trading rooks is difficult to avoid, but it limits White's attacking chances. There are few positions where a queen can checkmate the opponent king by itself. However, it can perpetually check. } 40... Qxe8 41. Qd5+ ( 41. Qxa7 Qe1+ 42. Kh2 Qe5+ 43. g3 Qxc3 44. Qb8+ Kf7 45. Qxb5 { and Black's passed Pc4 gives him plenty of opportunity to draw } ) 41... Kh8 42. Kf1 ( 42. g3 { is safe because Pc3 is poison. After 42...Qe1+ 43. Kg2 Qxc3?? 44. Qd8 is checkmate. } 42... h6 { renews the threat of ...Qe8-e1+xc3 } ) 42... h6 43. f3 a5 44. Kf2 Qg6 45. Qa8+ Kh7 46. Qxa5 Qc2+ 47. Kg3 Qg6+ 48. Kf2 1/2-1/2