Alexei Shirov: My best games in the Grünfeld

ChessBase Fritztrainer Eröffnung, Englisch, ISBN: 978-3-86681-060-0, 2007.

Niveau: Turnierspieler, Profi

The Grünfeld Indian is an active and dynamic reply to 1.d4 which can lead to complex and extremely sharp positions. So it’s no wonder that also Alexei Shirov included this Opening - which at its début in tournament practice was called ”hypermodern” - into his repertoire. At the candidates’ fi nal against Vladimir Kramnik in Cazorla in 1998, he exclusively - and successfully - trusted the Gruenfeld Indian with Black; the victory over Kramnik gave him the right to play a WCh match versus Kasparov. In the first part of the DVD Shirov extensivly comments his five Black games from the Kramnik match, giving deep insights into opening preparation and match strategy on highest level. In the second part Shirov reveals, among other things, how in his opposite-coloured bishop endgame against Topalov in Linares in 1998 he found the amazing and unique move, which will secure the game a place in chess history forever. And this is not the only flash of inspiration the Super Grandmaster will present in his videos… Running time: 5:25 hours.

Alexei Shirov wurde wie Weltmeister Mihail Tal in Riga geboren, und auch sein Stil erinnert viele Fans an den jungen 'Schachzauberer'. Anfang der 90er Jahre katapultierte ein kometenhafter Aufstieg den heranwachsenden Letten in kürzester Zeit in die Weltspitze. Mit gerade einmal 22 Jahren hatte er eine Elozahl von nahezu 2750 und gehörte damit zur absoluten Elite. Seitdem ist Shirov einer der besten Spieler der Welt, der alle Schachfans mit originellen und verblüffenden Ideen am Brett begeistert.