[Event "SuperGM"]
[Site "Linares ESP"]
[Date "2001.02.27"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Polgar, Ju"]
[Black "Shirov, A."]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Henderson,John"]
[ECO "B90"]
[EventDate "2001.02.23"]
[PlyCount "93"]

{ Game of the day though is unquestionably Judit Polgar's superb win over
Alexei Shirov.  After a lean period, she's back to her brilliant best again.  
   The Polgar phenomenon is well recorded. The youngest of three Hungarian
sisters (all chess masters), Judit, like Zsuzsa and Sofia, was taught at home
by their psychologist father, Laszlo (and mother, Klara), who planned their
entire family as an experiment to test his controversial theory that geniuses
are made, not born, which led to Dominic Lawson in his controversial book, The
Inner Game, to cruelly (and unfairly) christen her "Lassie", because she was
no more than just a trained dog. Their education included five hours' daily
chess instruction. All three played and studied chess to the exclusion of
virtually everything from the age of four. It didn't take long for the trio
hit the headlines and, in 1984, they started attending international
tournaments - and beating up the men!    The Polgar phenomenon is well
recorded.  The youngest of three Hungarian sisters (all chess masters), Judit,
like Zsuzsa and Sofia, was taught at home by their psychologist father, Laszlo
(and mother, Klara), who planned their entire family as an experiment to test
his controversial theory that geniuses are made, not born, which led to
Dominic Lawson in his controversial book, The Inner Game, to cruelly (and
unfairly) christened her "Lassie", because she was no more than just a trained
dog.  Their education included five hours' daily chess instruction.  All three
played and studied chess to the exclusion of virtually everything from the age
of four.  It didn't take long for the trio hit the headlines and, in 1984,
they started attending international tournaments - and beating up the men!    
   Judit is beyond doubt the greatest female player in the game's history -
even at one time regarded as a potential heir to the Kasparov throne.  She has
proved that it was possible for a woman to compete at the very top, something
she only achieved by never competing in the weaker female game, which she's
always shunned.  Playing on board three in the men's team in the recent
Olympiad, she was their star performer with a score of 10/13 - the second
highest points total of any player in the men's Olympiad.    This
"toughening-up" policy of competing only in Open tournaments quickly paid off.
In 1991 she became the first female to win a full national title (Hungarian
champion); a result that led the way for her to break the 30 year record of
arch misogynist Bobby Fischer, by becoming at 15 the youngest grandmaster in
the game.      Before the tournament started, "Honest" Jeff Sonas and
finger-operated abacas had decide that Judit would be trailing the field at
the end, alongside Anatoly Karpov. After the comprehensive way she demolished
Shirov, I think Jeff will also have to revise his odds here, too! } 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 { Again the English Attack,
which must be one of the most popular lines against the Najdorf these days.
Intended as a quiet sideline of the Najdorf to avoid all the theory, it first
became a big favourite of the man that should have been Britain's first GM,
William Hartston, in the early 70s when the Najdorf was at its zenith during
the Fischer years. Its was then refined by the likes of Nigel Short (who
really had most to do with its development), Mickey Adams, John Nunn and
Murray Chandler in the 80s as a way of avoiding all the reams of theory in the
Najdorf - now it basically IS the variation in the Najdorf with reams of
theory being produced on it! } 6... e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 Nbd7 9. Qd2 ( { Shirov is 
no stranger to this line - with either colour!  He had the Black side of it
last year in the Spanish Team Championships, he used it twice himself against
Gelfand in the FIDE KO in New Delhi, and also against Kasparov in the
Frankfurt Giants. } 9. g4 b5 10. g5 b4 11. Ne2 Nh5 12. Qd2 a5 13. Ng3 Nxg3 14. hxg3 a4 15. Nc1 Qa5 16. Bh3 Bxh3 17. Rxh3 Nb6 18. b3 d5 19. Nd3 Bd6 20. Rd1 d4 21. Bg1 axb3 22. axb3 Rc8 23. Qh2 Qa2 24. Rxh7 Rxh7 25. Qxh7 Rxc2 26. g6 Qxb3 27. Qxg7 fxg6 28. Nxe5 Qc3+ 29. Kf1 Bxe5 30. Qxe5+ Kf7 31. Qf4+ Kg8 32. Bf2 Nd7 33. Qg5 Qxf3 34. Qxg6+ Kf8 35. Qf5+ Qxf5 36. exf5 Ne5 37. Bxd4 Nf3 38. Be3 b3 { 0-1 Morovic,D-Shirov,A/Barcelona ESP 2000/The Week in Chess 301 (38). } ) 9... b5 ( 9... Be7 10. g4 O-O 11. O-O-O Qc7 12. Kb1 Rfc8 13. g5 Nh5 14. Nd5 Bxd5 15. exd5 Nb6 16. Rg1 a5 17. a3 a4 18. Nc5 dxc5 19. d6 Bxd6 20. Qxd6 Nf4 21. Bxf4 exf4 22. Bb5 g6 23. Rge1 Ra5 24. Re8+ Rxe8 25. Qxc7 Rxb5 26. Qxb7 { 1-0 Shirov,A-Gelfand,B/New Delhi IND 2000/The Week in Chess 318 (26). } ) 10. a4 b4 11. Nd5 Bxd5 ( 11... Be7 { was the only move here until the Shirov-Kasparov encounter from Frankfurt. } ) 12. exd5 Nb6 13. Bxb6 Qxb6 14. a5 $1 { The idea is simple: White is going to
stymie Black's play by rounding up on the vulnerable b-pawn. } 14... Qb7 15. Bc4 g6 ( 15... Be7 { is also an option, but apart from having to defend b4, Black is
cramped with no play.  The idea of ..g6 is to jettison the pawn and hope to
complicate matters with active piece play. } ) 16. Ra4 Rb8 17. Nc1 $1 $146 ( { A nice innovation: Judit is going to swing the knight round to d3 to first
pick up the b-pawn...and then the a-pawn! Such is the seriousness of Black's
position now, Shirov has to resort to drastic action. } 17. Qd3 Ra8 18. Qd2 Rb8 19. Qd3 Ra8 { 1/2-1/2 Shirov,A-Kasparov,G/Frankfurt GER 2000/The Week in Chess 294 (19). } ) 17... h5 $1 ( { Let's admit it. Shirov was never the one to go quietly now, was he? } 17... Bg7 18. Nd3 ( { White can also win the b-pawn without losing the d-pawn with } 18. Na2 $5 b3 19. Bxb3 O-O 20. Nc3 ) 18... Nxd5 19. Bxd5 Qxd5 20. Nxb4 Qxd2+ 21. Kxd2 Kd7 22. Rb1 Ra8 23. Nd5 { and the ending would have been too awful to contemplate for Black. } ) 18. Nd3 Bh6 { Black's only hope is to take the game into the weird and wonderful world
of Planet Shirov. } 19. Qxb4 Qc7 20. Qa3 O-O 21. Nf2 $1 ( { A brave move. 
Unbelievably, Judit is going to use her King as a defender on the queenside.
And if it works, she's also going to have the King primed for the ending. The
safer option would have been: } 21. O-O $5 Nd7 { with the idea of ..f5 to try and generate something - anything. } ) 21... Bc1 22. Nd3 Be3 23. Kd1 $1 Rfc8 24. Re1 { Look at how all the White pieces are working
together.  Judit's plan has been impressive. } 24... Bh6 25. c3 Rb5 { What else?  Shirov was just getting pushed off the board. } 26. Bxb5 axb5 27. Rb4 Nxd5 28. Rxb5 $1 { This simplifies everything - the advancing a-pawn cannot be stopped. } 28... Qc4 29. Rxd5 Qxd5 30. Kc2 Ra8 31. a6 Qc6 32. Ra1 e4 { One last throw of the dice. } 33. Nb4 Qc4 34. Qa5 exf3 35. gxf3 Re8 36. Qd5 $3 Re2+ 37. Kd1 Rd2+ 38. Qxd2 Bxd2 39. Kxd2 Qf4+ 40. Kc2 Qf5+ 41. Nd3 Qxf3 42. Ra5 ( 42. a7 $4 Qg2+ $1 $11 43. Kd1 ( 43. Kb3 Qd5+ 44. Kb4 Qb7+ ) 43... Qf3+ 44. Kd2 Qg2+ { and White can't
escape the perpetual - this has been a superbly played game by Judit. } ) 42... Qa8 43. a7 d5 44. Nb4 d4 45. Nd5 dxc3 46. bxc3 Kg7 47. Kb3 { Not only getting
out of any troublesome checks after Nb6 or c7, but also giving White an added
option of a stylish win by taking his king to b6 (via b4 and c5)  and then
playing Nc7. } 1-0