Memorization: Shabalov-Shirov 2005
The game showcased in this memorization exercise, Alexander Shabalov vs. Alexei Shirov, was played in the 2005 edition of the Canadian Open and features the Euwe Variation of the Advance French. Shabalov and Shirov were both born in Riga, Latvia during the Soviet era, and in 1994 Shirov was ranked number two in the world. Last year Shirov won the Canadian Open and, as it happens, in that tournament he played a game against the Euwe Variation as White and drew after eighty-eight moves.
1. Opening: Advance French, Euwe Variation
Black replies to White's 1.e4 with 1...e6, the French Defense. After 2.d4 d5, White continues 3.e5, the Advance Variation. Black pushes 3...c5, attacking White's center with the threat of 4...cxd4, and White pushes 4.c3 to defend with a pawn. Black escalates the attack on d4 with 4...Nc6, and White plays 5.Nf3 to develop and triple-defend. Instead of 5...Qb6, Black develops the light-square bish with 5...Bd7, the Euwe Variation. The point of developing the bish to d7 is to keep the king safe from attacks on the a4-e8 light squares, to make available the option of trading off the light-square bishes, and to allow a transfer of the bish to the kingside via e8.
2. Hotspot: d4
6.Bb5 would give Black a major advantage after 6...Nxe5, and 6.Bd4 would lose White a tempo after 6...cxd4 7.cxd4 Qb6 -- so White develops his light-square bish passively with 6.Be2. Since the f6-square isn't available for Black's kingside knight to deploy to, it deploys with 6...Nge7. White, unable to develop his queenside knight to the c3-square, has a similar problem, which he works around with the awkward-looking 7.Na3. 7.dxc5 looks like White is winning a pawn, but 7...Qc7 double-attacks White's e5-pawn and ultimately Black will capture one or both of White's c5- and e5-pawns. Black and White are both intending to reroute their knights to active positions vis-a-vis White's d4-pawn. After 7...cxd4 and 8.cxd4, Black attacks d4 with 8...Nf5 and White defends with 9.Nc2. The d4-square gets hotter still with 9...Qb6. White's d4-pawn is triple-attacked and triple-defended.
3. Can I interest you in a trade?
After White castles with 10.0-0, the rook on f1 is behind the light-square bish on the same diag. Black, identifying this as an opportunity to trade light-square bishes, preps 11...Bb5 with the move 10...Na5. White, sensing what Black is up to, gets aggressive and attacks with 11.g4, prompting Black to retreat his f5-knight with 11...Ne7. Now that Black is only attacking d4 twice, White can retreat his f3-knight with 12.Nfe1. Black makes the bish trade offer official with 12...Bb5, and White rejects it with 13.Nd3.
4. Sac to attack
Surprisingly, since most of his army is on the queenside, Black attacks on the kingside with 13...h5. White captures with 14.gxh5, supported by the light-square bish and the queen. The absence of a pawn on g4, in addition to weakening White's king, allows Black to reply 14...Nf5, reestablishing the knight on what is now an outpost square. Since White's knight on d3 is blocking the queen's defense of d4, White develops his dark-square bish with 15.Be3 to serve as a second defender. With 15...Nc6, Black triple-attacks d4. White's only way to triple-defend d4 is to relocate the d3-knight off of the d-file -- but that would allow Black to trade off the light-square bishes.
◄ Halftime recap ►
Alexander Shabalov's game against Alexei Shirov ended with the former resigning after move 30. Move 15 is therefore a convenient point in the game to check if the first half has been accurately absorbed into memory.
The game opens with an Advance French: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3. Black veers off to the Euwe Variation with 5...Bd7. White also moves the light-square bish, developing it with 6.Be2. Black doesn't deploy the queen; instead, he plays 6...Nge7, with an eye toward the f5-square, where the knight will attack d4. White develops with a similar idea -- 7.Na3, eyeing the c2-square, where it can defend d4. Black exchanges on d4 with 7...cxd4 and 8.cxd4, and attacks with 8...Nf5. After White defends with 9.Nc2, Black summons the queen as a third attacker with 9...Qb6. The d4-pawn is adequately defended, so White can castle with 10.0-0. Black would like to trade light-square bishes, and preps a trade with 10...Na5. White would like to maneuver his f3-knight to the d3-square via e1, but that would leave the d4-pawn underdefended. White therefore attacks Black's f5-knight with 11.g4, prompting 11...Ne7. Now White can continue 12.Nfe1. Black offers the bish trade with 12...Bb5, and White rejects it with 13.Nd3. In order to return his knight to f5, Black sacs on the h-file with 13...h5. White captures with 14.gxh5, and now Black can play 14...Nf5. White's d4-pawn is attacked twice and only defended once, so White develops the dark-square bish with 15.Be3. Black replies 15...Nc6, triple-attacking d4 again.
✓ Success
5. White advances on the queenside
Although it looks like White will lose the d4-pawn, it would be a mistake for Black to capture it: after 16...Ncxd4 17.Nxd4 Nxd4, Black's knight is pinned to the queen by White's dark-square bish. White can therefore begin a queenside advance with 16.a4, prompting Black's bish on b5 to move with 16...Bc4. White continues gaining space on the queenside with 17.b4, to which Black replies 17...Qd8, prepping a transfer of the queen to the kingside on the d8-h4 diag.
6. Black overwhelms the kingside
After 18.Bg4, to avoid getting checked, Black captures White's dark-square bish with 18...Nxe3. White recaptures with 19.fxe3, and now Black can play 19...Qg5, pinning White's g4-bish. After 20.h3, defending the bish in the event of 20...Bxd3 and 21.Qxd3, Black exploits the pin on the bish to capture a pawn with 20...Rxh5. White continues 21.Qf3, simultaneously defending the pawn on e3 from 21...Qxe3+ and threatening 22.Qxf7+. Black replies 21...0-0-0, abandoning the f7-pawn. After 22.Qxf7, Black further exploits the pinned bish to capture another h-pawn, this time with 22...Rxh3, fully opening the h-file.
7. Checks, checks and more checks
White's queen also continues capturing pawns, this time with 23.Qxe6+, prompting 23...Kb8. After 24.Rxf8, 24...Rxf8 and 25.Qd6+ would be game over for Black -- but Black's reply of 24...Rg3+ is game over for White. White's king runs with 25.Kf2, and Black chops White's remaining bish with 25...Rxg4. White tries 26.Qd6+, exploiting the pin on Black's d8-rook; but after 26...Ka8, 27.Rxd8+ is met with 27...Nxd8, defended by the queen on g5, and White's attack fizzles out. 28.Qd7 threatens 29.Qc8#, but Black's rook gives check with 28...Rg2+. The king runs with 29.Ke1, is pursued with 29...Qg3+, and runs some more with 30.Kd1. After 30...Qf3+, White resigns, because at some point Black will move his knight to b8 via the c6-square and meanwhile erode the defenses around White's king.
◄ Blind recap ►
Here is an attempt to replay Shabalov-Shirov 2005 from start to finish without looking at the board:
Opening is Advance French, so 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 and 3.e5. Black attacks d4 with 3...c5 and White defends with 4.c3. Black attacks again with 4...Nc6, and White develops and triple-defends with 5.Nf3. Black goes with the Euwe Variation, developing his light-square bish with 5...Bd7, and White develops similarly with 6.Be2. Each eyeing the d4-square, Black begins maneuvering the kingside knight to f5 with 6...Nge7 and White begins maneuvering the queenside knight to c2 with 7.Na3. Black and White exchange pawns on the d-file with 7...cxd4 and 8.cxd4, and they complete their knight maneuvers of 8...Nf5 and 9.Nc2. Black attacks d4 a third time with 9...Qb6, and White castles with 10.0-0. Black seeks to trade off light-square bishes, and preps 11...Bb5 with 10...Na5. White seeks to reroute his f3-knight to d3 and block the exchange, so he first kicks Black's f5-knight back with 11.g4. Black replies 11...Ne7. Now 12.Nfe1 is possible; and after Black's 12...Bb5, 13.Nd3 rejects the bish trade. Black seeks to get his knight back to f5, so he sacs his h-pawn with 13...h5. White captures with 14.gxh5, and now 14...Nf5 is played. White develops the dark-square with 15.Be3, which defends d4, and Black replies 15...Nc6, again attacking d4. White expands on the queenside with 16.a4, prompting 16...Bc4, and expands further with 17.b4. Black replies 17...Qd8 intending to transfer to the kingside. White continues 18.Bg4, and Black chops White's dark-square bish with 18...Nxe3. White recaptures with 19.fxe3, and now Black gets in on the dark squares with 19...Qg5, pinning White's light-square bish. White supports the bish with 20.h3 so the queen isn't overworked defending the bish on g4 and the knight on d3. Black captures a pawn with
✗ Partial success
Advance French, so 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5. Black attacks d4 with 3...c5, and White defends with 4.c3. Black double-attacks with 4...Nc6, and White triple-defends with 5.Nf3. Euwe Variation, so Black develops the light-square bish with 5...Bd7, and White develops the light-square bish with 6.Be2. Black begins a knight maneuver to f5 with 6...Nge7, and White begins a knight maneuver to c2 with 7.Na3. Black and White exchange pawns on d4 with 7...cxd4 and 8.cxd4. The knights complete their journeys with 8...Nf5 and 9.Nc2. Black attacks d4 a third time with 9...Qb6, and White castles with 10.0-0. Black wants to trade off light-square bishes, so he moves the knight on c6 with 10...Na5. White doesn't want to trade bishes and preps 12.Nfe1 with 11.g4, prompting 11...Ne7. Now White can continue 12.Nfe1, en-route to d3. Black offers to trade bishes with 12...Bb5. White declines with 13.Nd3. Black sacs a pawn with 13...h5 in order to remove White's defense of f5. White captures with 14.gxh5, and Black establishes the knight on what is now an outpost with 14...Nf5. White's d4-pawn is attacked twice and only defended once, so White double-defends with 15.Be3. Black triple-attacks d5 again with 15...Nc6. White ignores the attack and starts expanding on the queenside with 16.a4, attacking Black's bish on b5. Black moves the bish with 16...Bc4, and White pushes 17.b4. Black, seeking to shift to the kingside, plays 17...Qd8. White plugs the hole on his g-file with 18.Bg4. Black eliminates White's control of the dark squares with 18...Nxe3, and White recaptures with 19.fxe3. Black pins White's bish on the g-file with 19...Qg5, and White adds support to the bish with 20.h3. Black captures a pawn with 20...Rxh5, and White brings the queen with 21.Qf3. Black castles with 21...0-0-0, and White captures a pawn with 22.Qxf7. Black captures another pawn with 22...Rxh3, leaving White's bish on g4 undefended, and White captures another pawn with 23.Qxe6+. Black's king runs with 23...Kb8, and White captures Black's dark-square bish with 24.Rxf8. Black gives check with 24...Rg3+, and White's king attacks the rook with 25.Kf2. Black captures White's light-square bish with 25...Rxg4, and White gives a check with 26.Qd6+. Black's king runs with 26...Ka8, and White captures Black's rook with 27.Rxd8+. Black recaptures with 27...Nxd8, and White threatens mate in one with 28.Qd7. Black gives check with 28...Rg2+, and White's king runs with 29.Ke1. Black's queen on g5 gives check with 29...Qg3+, and White's king runs with 30.Kd1. Black checks again with
✓ Success
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