Shirov impressive in Arica

Down in South America

Traditionally strong masters from South America find it necessary to either move to Europe — usually to Spain — or plan tours through the Old Continent in order to face stronger opposition and improve their game. Luckily for them, however, strong European and North American masters are more than willing to make a trip down south when a well-organised event takes place.

In this year's "Festival Internacional de Ajerez Ciudad de Arica", the organisers managed to attract players from Spain, Tajikistan, Belarus, Ukraine, Belgium and the United States, besides the big line-ups that arrived from neighbouring South American countries. The biggest star was none other than Alexei Shirov — the Latvian grandmaster now represents Spain and has recently won a similar tournament in Chihuaha, Mexico.

The tournament was held in two venues, the CUT (Central Unitaria del Trabajador) and the Luckia Casino. It had 8 million pesos in prizes (around 12,000 U.S. dollars) and was valid for international titles and rankings.

The Luckia Casino | Photo: Official site

Shirov showed his vintage attacking style to get some crucial victories in the tournament. In round six he faced Uruguay's top player Andrés Rodríguez with the black pieces — uncompromising play by both led to the following position:

And Action! - How to crown positional play by tactics

There are few names which, like that of Alexei Shirov, can be associated with fantastically imaginative and tactically influenced play. Now the Latvian grandmaster is presenting a DVD on precisely that element of the game of chess. And one that is completely based on his own games.

Notice that White just captured a rook on a8, but Black's attack is imminent — clearly, Shirov had evaluated that 22...f4 was good for him. Nonetheless, White counted on getting counterplay after 23.♕ d3, attacking h7. The game followed 23...g6 24.hxg6 fxe3 25.f3 ♞ f2 26.♕ f1 ♛ f6 27.gxh7+ ♚ h8 28.♔ e2 ♝ f5 29.♕ a1. (It is a long variation, but feel free to move the pieces and analyse other variations on the diagram above!)

The queens quickly left the board, but Black's d-pawn combined with a strong knight on g3 convinced Rodríguez that it was time to resign:

The last move of the game was 24...♜ e5, with the threat of taking the rook to h1 via h5. 

Crushing Isolated Queen's Pawn Tactics

The aim of this DVD is to offer the viewer tactical exercises that also illustrate the attacking prospects within IQP positions. The content of the DVD emphasizes the importance of understanding this type of pawn structure.

Takes two to tango — Andrés Rodríguez from Uruguay | Photo: Official site

The biggest surprise was Peruvian IM Renato Terry, who finished second ahead of eleven grandmasters. The 26-year-old finished with four straight wins and only lost once throughout the event — against Ukrainian GM Vitaly Sivuk. Alongside Terry, two fellow Peruvians finished in the Top 10, José Martínez Alcántara and Christian Cruz, showing once again how the younger generations from the Andean country are slowly but surely rising up the rating ladder.

Half a point behind Terry, six players finished on 7½/10, but Farrukh Amonatov had the best tiebreak score. Amonatov was born in the Soviet Union — like Shirov — but now represents Tajikistan.

How to crack the Berlin Wall with 5.Re1

Alexei Shirov shows on this DVD how White can develop pressure and seize the initiative with 5.Re1 against the Berlin Wall.

The winners | Photo: Official site

Also on 7½ finished four-time U.S. champion Alexander Shabalov, who alongside two-time fellow U.S. champion Alex Yermolinsky are venturing to lesser-known destinations to play chess. Yermo, by the way, arrived in the last round tied for second and faced Alexei Shirov on top board — unfortunately for him, he could not take revenge for his loss in Chihuahua.

A smiling Yermo | Photo: Official site

Alex Shabalov finished on 7½ | Photo: Official site

It was also a memorable event for Chilean Nicolás Abarca, who scored 6/10 and achieved his third and final IM norm.

Mega Database 2019

The "Mega" is the database every serious chessplayer needs. The database contains 7.6 million games from 1500 to 2018, in highest quality standard, full of top level analyses and completely classified.

Nicolás Abarca is now an IM | Photo: Official site

Final standings (top 25)

All available games

Links

• Official site
• Full results (Chess-Results)