Alexei Shirov wins Gazprom Brilliancy Prize

Press release by FIDE

Alexei Shirov has been proclaimed the winner of the Gazprom Brilliancy Prize, a special trophy awarded by the General Partner of the Online Chess Olympiad.

The Solid Slav Defence

This Slav DVD is a complete opening repertoire for black after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6. GM Nick Pert has played the Slav defence for over 10 years and provides all his latest and most up to date analysis crammed into one video series. Nick has spent many hours studying the best Slav lines, and he explains his favourite variations, plus includes some interactive clips where the viewer is tested on a range of theoretical questions and tactics arising from Slav games.

The game that earned Shirov this prize was his victory with the black pieces against Danyyil Dvirnyy, in the match Spain v Italy that took place in the Pool C of Division 2. The game was a Slav Defense in which Alexei came up with a novelty relatively early in the game, 14...Qb8 instead of the queen's exchange proposal that implies the most common continuation 14...Qb6. Shirov’s attack on the queenside progressed much faster than Danyyil’s advances on the kingside, and the Spaniard achieved a crushing victory in just 29 moves with an elegant checkmate threat following a queen sacrifice. 

This isn’t the first brilliancy prize in Shirov’s career, and for sure it won’t be the last. The Spaniard remains one of the most popular players among chess fans on account of his uncompromising style and fighting spirit, and he is always willing to jump into the sharpest possible continuation that the position has to offer. During the Online Olympiad, Alexei demonstrated to be in very good shape, and this is just one of the dozen victories he scored with the Spanish team. He totalled 13 points in 15 games, with just 1 defeat and 2 draws.

FIDE had invited a panel of 14 popular Streamers and YouTubers to be the judges for the Gazprom Brilliancy Prize, asking them to give 3 points to their favorite game, 2 to their second favorite, and 1 to the third. Ten out of the fourteen judges picked Shirov's game as their top choice, announcing their votes in their respective channels.

[Merijn van Delft had already chosen Shirov’s victory as his Game of the Week. Replay the video analysis on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account.]

Final results

1. Dvirnyy - Shirov, 33 points 
2. Kapitanchuk - Kozak, 18 points 
3. Anand - Maghsoodloo, 10 points
4. Noritsyn - So, 10 points
5. Pavlidis - Ftacnik, 4 points
6. Salman - Aziz, 4 points
7. Xiong - Esipenko, 3 points
8. Gunina - Gara, 1 point
9. Zabi - Napoleao, 1 point

GM Daniel King analyzes Dvirnyy vs. Shirov

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You play 20 moves of elegant positional chess - but throw the game away by miscalculating. To play a good game of chess you must know how to calculate. The ability to calculate is not something that chessplayers are born with. Calculation is a core skill that can be improved through practice. In this 10th Power Play DVD Grandmaster Daniel King will help you to assess how good you are at calculating, and gives you tips as to how you might sharpen your thought processes at the chessboard.

All 9 games that received votes

Select an entry from the list to switch between games

List of judges

Anna Cramling (Sweden) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/730184512
3 points: Dvirnyy - Shirov
2 points: Noritsyn - So
1 point: Kapitanchuk - Kozak

Anna-Maja Kazarian (Netherlands) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/727936451
3 points: Noritsyn - So 
2 points: Salman - Aziz 
1 point: Zaibi - Napoleao

Antonio Radic (Croatia) https://youtu.be/3kNznwra7yg
3 points: Dvirnyy - Shirov
2 points: Pavlidis - Ftacnik
1 point: Kapitanchuk - Kozak

Ayelen Martinez (Argentina) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/730094968
3 points: Anand - Maghsoodloo
2 points: Noritsyn - So
1 point: Kapitanchuk  - Kozak

Carlos Matamoros (Ecuador) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/729181975
3 points: Dvirnyy - Shirov
2 points: Anand - Maghsoodloo
1 point: Noritsyn - So

Daniel King (UK) https://www.youtube.com/user/PowerPlayChess
3 points: Dvirnyy - Shirov
2 points: Anand - Maghsoodloo
1 point: Noritsyn - So

Daniel Naroditsky (USA) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/730761731
3 points: Dvirnyy - Shirov 
2 points: Kapitanchuk - Kozak 
1 point: Xiong - Esipenko

Eric Rosen (USA) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/730665604
3 points: Dvirnyy - Shirov
2 points: Anand - Maghsoodloo
1 point: Noritsyn - So

Fiona Steil Antoni (Luxemburg) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/727205369
3 points: Dvirnyy - Shirov 
2 points: Kapitanchuk - Kozak 
1 point: Salman - Aziz

London System with 2.Bf4 Reloaded and Tactic Toolbox London System

Simon Williams presents the London System, providing the theory you need for your games (7 h 16 min). In addition Williams also introduces into typical tactics and patterns in a seperate product. (53 games, 96 training questions and 3h 14 min)

Jesse February (South Africa) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/727913527
 3 points: Kapitanchuk - Kozak 
2 points: Xiong - Esipenko 
1 point: Dvirnyy - Shirov

Maria Emelianova (Russia) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/730030600
3 points: Dvirnyy - Shirov 
2 points: Pavlidis - Ftacnik 
1 point: Anand - Maghsoodloo

Michael Rahal (Spain) https://youtu.be/WP1GSRgtB3s
3 points: Kapitanchuk - Kozak 
2 points: Dvirnyy - Shirov 
1 point: Salman - Aziz

Sagar Shah & Amruta Mokal (India) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzJPLw4AoFM
3 points: Dvirnyy vs Shirov
2 points: Vidit - Nepomniachtich
1 point: Kapitanchuk - Kozak

Simon Williams (UK) https://youtu.be/CVRrQ_1N06s
3 points: Dvirnyy - Shirov 
2 points: Kapitanchuk - Kozak 
1 point: Gunina - Ticia Gara

Links

• FIDE’s official website
• All news on the 2020 Chess Olympiad