by Aviv Friedman

Shirov - Ivanchuk: This was a true tragedy. In another Ruy Lopez, Anti-Marshall variation with a somewhat odd move order, black went into a very good piece sac - perhaps white's 14.b4?! was too ambitious and 15.bxa5? was simply good for black. It looks like black could have even improved a lot on the happenings with 16…b4! preventing the games' 17.axb5 and 18.a6!, since the e4 pawn is not going anywhere anyways! Of course 18…Bxa6? 19.Bd5 or 18…Rxa6 19.Bxf7+ Kxf7 20.Rxa6 Bxa6 21.Qd5+ was crushing. As it was white got a lot play - maybe 19.Bd5 was another option to the counter sacrifice, but this is Shirov! It is very hard to asses what was going on in the position after 22.Nxe4. Was white better? Was black? Allow me to bail by saying the position seems very unclear. The seesaw continued with 23.Nxc3? where 23.Qd5+! looked necessary, and white still keeps his "a" pawn for a bit. Now black 'ate' that nuisance and was again for choice. 29…Qa4! Was a move that was extremely hard to meet, probably just winning at once. In the time trouble black, certainly went the wrong way. Many moves would have still clinched it for him, but he slowly and surely drifted until he lost the thread of the game. 34…d4? (34…Rf5!) was throwing away the advantage completely, and 35…Re4?? was throwing away the game by hanging the rook on a1. What more to say? How these things happen to Ivanchuk is really a mystery. I now understand his answer to a reporter about the subject of missing and blundering: "Mysticism!" The only amusing element in this sad story was the behavior of the two during the game: Often they could be seen (and no matter who was on the move) looking well away from the board. It might have been empty space for them, but they often seem to look directly at the web cam that showed us their board in the pressroom. It was quite funny to watch them as if they have both decided to 'space out' in mid game!

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