[Event "SuperGM"]
[Site "Linares ESP"]
[Date "2001.02.23"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Shirov, A."]
[Black "Karpov, A."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[Annotator "Henderson,John"]
[BlackElo "2679"]
[ECO "B17"]
[EventDate "2001.??.??"]
[PlyCount "187"]
[WhiteElo "2718"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 e6 7. N1f3 Bd6 8. Qe2 h6 9. Ne4 Nxe4 10. Qxe4 c5 11. Qg4 ( { More popular has been } 11. Bd2 { or } ) ( 11. O-O ) 11... Qf6 $146 ( { A novelty - the more typical Caro-Kann move, } 11... Kf8 { , is more usual. } ) 12. c3 $6 ( { If White want's to take anything from the game, he really had to play } 12. Be3 $5 cxd4 ( 12... b6 13. Be4 Rb8 14. O-O-O $1 ) 13. Bxd4 e5 14. Qe4 $1 Qe6 15. Bc3 Nc5 16. Bb5+ Kf8 17. Qe3 { and White has much the better of it: Good pieces,
better scope for the rooks and a safer king. } ) 12... cxd4 13. cxd4 b6 14. O-O ( 14. Be4 Rb8 15. Bd2 Bb7 $1 16. Bxb7 Rxb7 17. Rc1 Rc7 ) 14... Bb7 15. Be3 h5 $1 { Karpov really has a nice position - just look how harmoniously placed his
pieces are. } 16. Qh3 Bxf3 17. gxf3 ( 17. Qxf3 Qxf3 18. gxf3 Ke7 $1 { is not the sort of ending I'd like to defending against Karpov. } ) 17... Rd8 18. Rac1 g5 19. Be4 Ke7 { Rather than sit back and watch Karpov squeezing him like
a python, Shirov decides it's time to rock the boat a little. } 20. Rfe1 Bf4 ( { Karpov may have been better opting for } 20... g4 $5 21. Qg2 Rhg8 22. Kh1 ) 21. Bxf4 Qxf4 22. d5 $1 { Now all the fun starts. } 22... Ne5 23. dxe6 f5 24. Rc7+ ( 24. Qxf5 $2 Qxf5 25. Bxf5 Nxf3+ 26. Kf1 Nxe1 27. Rxe1 Rd2 { is hopeless } ) 24... Kd6 25. Rxa7 fxe4 26. e7 Nxf3+ 27. Kf1 Rde8 28. Qd7+ Ke5 29. Rd1 Kf6 $1 30. Qc6+ Kf7 31. Rd8 Nxh2+ 32. Ke1 Ng4 $2 ( { With just under 40 seconds or so for
the last eight moves, Karpov makes a crucial slip at the wrong moment. The
winning line was: } 32... e3 $1 33. Qd5+ ( 33. fxe3 $2 Qxe3+ 34. Kd1 Qf3+ 35. Qxf3+ Nxf3 36. Ke2 g4 { and White doesn't seem to have an answer to Black simply pushing the h-pawn. } ) 33... Kg7 34. fxe3 Qxe3+ 35. Kd1 Qf3+ 36. Qxf3 Nxf3 { and again the same
winning plan seems unstoppable: ..g4 followed by pushing the h-pawn. } ) 33. Qxb6 e3 34. Qb3+ Kg7 35. Qc3+ Qf6 36. fxe3 Qxc3+ 37. bxc3 Ne5 ( { Karpov now had only
5-6 seconds left - and the pressure was beginning to tell.  I think he knew
that recapturing the pawn was going to lead to a similar position as in the
game, so decided instead to try and group all his pieces together, get to the
time control, and then see how the ground lay. } 37... Nxe3 38. Kf2 Nf5 39. Ra5 Kf6 40. Rdd5 Nxe7 41. Rd6+ Kf7 42. Rxg5 { and the likely result here is a draw
- this is better than the game; but, in reality, Black hasn't got the
resources to take advantage of the extra piece. } ) 38. Rd5 Kf6 39. e4 Nf3+ 40. Kf2 g4 41. Kg3 Rh7 42. Rf5+ Kg6 43. Ra6+ Kg7 44. Ra7 Kg6 45. Ra6+ Kg7 46. Ra7 Rh6 47. Rd7 Re6 48. Rxh5 Rxe4 49. Rf5 Ne5 50. Rc7 Re1 ( 50... Ng6 51. Rg5 Kf6 52. Rxg4 Re6 53. a4 { is also an easy draw. } ) 51. a4 Nf7 52. a5 Nh6 ( 52... R8xe7 53. Rxe7 Rxe7 54. a6 ( 54. Kxg4 $2 Nh6+ $1 ) 54... Nh6 55. Ra5 Ra7 { is also leading nowhere. } ) 53. Rf4 R8xe7 54. Rxe7+ Rxe7 55. a6 Re3+ 56. Kg2 Rxc3 57. Ra4 Rc8 58. a7 Ra8 59. Kg3 Kf6 60. Kf4 Ke7 61. Ra6 Nf7 62. Kxg4 Kd7 63. Kf5 Nd6+ 64. Kf4 Nb5 65. Ke5 Kc7 66. Kd5 Kb7 67. Ra1 Nxa7 { A theory draw
you would think in an elite tournament?  Well, not really!  Cast your minds
back to another Spanish elite tournament (Dos Hermanas, 1996), and you'll
discover that Garry Kasparov managed to beat Judit Polgar in this ending -
albeit with a little help from his opponent, who made the cardinal error of
trapping her king on the backrank.  The only reason I remember this was I had
to do a review in a magazine of the ChessBase Endgame CD-Rom's containing all
five-piece major endings on 4-CDs, which had just come out at the time. I
still find them indispensible - particularly as coasters when friends come
round and I don't want stains on the coffee table!    However, with Shirov's
king so central, the only way he could lose it now was by a Helpmate.  Shirov
makes no mistake of that. } 68. Rb1+ Kc7 69. Rc1+ Kb6 70. Rb1+ Nb5 71. Kc4 Rc8+ 72. Kd5 Rc5+ 73. Ke4 Kc6 74. Ra1 Nd6+ 75. Kd4 Rd5+ 76. Ke3 Kd7 77. Ra8 Ke6 78. Ra7 Kf5 79. Rc7 Re5+ 80. Kd3 Rd5+ 81. Ke3 Ne4 82. Rc4 Nc5 83. Rc3 Ke5 84. Ra3 Rd4 85. Rc3 Kd5 86. Ra3 Re4+ 87. Kf3 Re8 88. Re3 Rf8+ 89. Ke2 Kd4 90. Re7 Rf6 91. Re8 Ne6 92. Ra8 Nf4+ 93. Kf3 Nd3+ 94. Kg4 1/2-1/2