Alexei Shirov: My best games in the Spanish Vol. 2
Review by GM Hedinn Steingrimsson
This is Shirovs second multimedia DVD on
the Spanish Opening. In his first DVD on the Spanish Shirov mentioned that he
thought that the Bc5 system deserved further attention and subsequently started
playing this system regularly in many important games in 2007. The mainline
arises after: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.00 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.c3 d6
(7…00 is also analysed) 8.d4 Bb6.

Apart from Shirov, Anand also played this
line with black in an important game in the Mexico World Championship
Tournament. This line gets most attention on this DVD or 5 games with Shirov
playing black in them all. Shirov also shows games where he played with white
against the Marshall (3 games),
Berlin Defence, Breyer, Flohr-Zaitsev and the Chigorin. All the games, with one
exception, are quite new or from 2007.

I must admit that I am quite fond of
this DVD. Shirov invites the audience to his world of chess and explains what
is going on in the opening and the games like he sees it. Apart from being very
inspiring Shirov always shows his audience full respect and never shows a hint
of arrogance. He does not avoid analysing and expressing his opinion on
currently believed critical lines and even points out that according to his
experience analysing an opening variation on a multimedia DVD helps him to play
the variation better and achieve better results.

Shirov has spent several days
on many of the critical lines. Sometimes he does not show his complete analyses,
preferring only to show the first moves of some complicated long analyses and
explaining the general evaluation and character of the struggle. He succeeds in
inspiring his audience to look at the lines further and also gives excellent
starting point for further own analysis.
This DVD gets 4.5 stars out of 5 possible.
One improvement would be to include an opening database with the lines that
where analysed like e.g. in Kasparov’s DVDs on the Najdorf.
- Intro
- Ivanchuk – Shirov 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4
Nf6 5.0–0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5
- Adams - Shirov 1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5
- Dominguez Perez – Shirov 1.e4
e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5
- Smirin – Shirov 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6
4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5
- Navara – Shirov 1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5
- Shirov – Adams 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6
5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 d6
- Shirov – Naiditsch 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0
Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8
- Shirov – Aronian 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4
Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3
- Shirov – Ivanchuk 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4
Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3
- Shirov – Akopian 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4
Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5
- Shirov – Kasimdzhanov 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6
4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d6 9.h3 Na5
- Shirov – Jakovenko 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4
Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Re8
-
Shirov – Postny 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5
7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Nb8
Total playing time: 6 hours |

Shirov: My Best Games in the Spanish Vol. 2 |