Computers Ruin Everything: Fire On Board Edition

Alexei Shirov was one of the very strongest players in the world from the mid-90s through around 2010, and even more than for his strength he was (and is!) celebrated for his creativity. Shirov entitled both of his chess autobiographies Fire On Board, and with good reason, too. His ability to create, and outwit his opponents, in the most insanely complex positions made him an heir to the great Mikhail Tal, and the chess world was all the richer for it.

For many of us, 2010 was not all that long ago, but there are plenty of kids for whom Shirov is mostly a name and not a figure of great familiarity. And while there are “oldies” stations galore playing the music of the 1990s and 2000s, very few of chess’s greatest hits get the equivalent of air time.

So, during a recent lesson I wanted to give one of my students a little sampler of what made Shirov great, and decided to show him a remarkable bit of analysis in the Sveshnikov Sicilian that he came up with and played against Veselin Topalov. Shirov discusses this with understandable pride in the chapter “Notes on Creativity” in Fire On Board Part II: 1997-2004, and I started showing it to my student. Out of curiosity, and hoping that it would make Shirov’s creativity even more impressive, I ran the engine while entering the moves.

Sigh…

Have a look here, as we see what Shirov did and thought, and how Stockfish blew a hole in the idea.

Shirov on the Prowl

On the verge of turning 50, the legend is still playing his brand of chess with success.

Alexei Shirov was one of the world’s absolute top players in the 1990s and the 2000s, but starting in the mid-2010s he took a dip. Not only did he fall from the tier of world championship contenders, but he also even dropped below the 2700 level. For younger chess fans, this may not mean very much, but for those of us who were watching Shirov in his best years it was a real shame. He was one of the most exciting players of his era, possibly of all time, and hardly a tournament went by when he didn’t manage to win at least one mind-blowing game.

It was therefore a pleasant surprise when he made it back over 2700 late last year while qualifying for the Grand Prix. His results there weren’t fantastic, to understate the matter, but in the last week or so he has once again righted the ship, crushing Jorden Van Foreest 3.5-0.5 in a short match to return to the promised land (i.e., to return to the 2700 club). Doing so also required one other win, against Gawain Jones in the 4NCL.

The five games were all entertaining (well, the four wins were), and as they flew under the radar while Norway Chess was going on, I’ve decided to annotate them for you - have a look. Shirov will turn 50 on the 4th of July, so we should enjoy these performances from him while he can still produce them. For those of you who are unfamiliar with chess - and for that matter, even for those of you who are - I can very strongly recommend his two “Fire on Board” books. His best chess is incandescent and inspirational, and worth your time if you are a chess fan.

European Team Championship Finale: Ukraine Wins On Tiebreaks, France Second; Firouzja #2 in the World and Over 2800; Shirov Back over 2700 **UPDATED**

Happy endings all around, especially for Alireza Firouzja and his legion of fans. Firouzja at the tender age of 18 years and five months, is the youngest player in chess history to break the 2800 barrier. (Magnus Carlsen is the only other player to hit 2800 before turning 19, but he was some months older.) His ridiculous score of 8/9 in the European Team Championship, finishing with a draw against Alexander Grischuk and a win over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, pushed him over the top (and nearly brought his team to overall victory). He is now 2803.8 on the Live Rating List (which will be rounded up to 2804 at the end of the month), making him #2 in the world. This month alone he leapfrogged seven players, most recently Ding Liren, gaining 34 points between this event and his win in the FIDE Grand Swiss.

That's the happy youth story. The happy middle-age story belongs to Alexei Shirov, who drew with Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Anish Giri in the last two rounds to re-enter the rarified air of the 2700 club. His November was almost as fantastic as Firouzja's, as he gained 29 points and went undefeated in both the FIDE Grand Swiss (where he drew with Firouzja) and the European Team Championship. It's not the Shirov of 20 or even 10 years ago, when he was very much in the hunt for the World Championship, but it's still nice to see him competing on equal terms with 2700s.

A few more comments about Firouzja. First, for all his greatness, which is on increasingly display on an almost daily basis, he did enjoy some good fortune in the last two rounds. Excessive (and needless) risk had him in some trouble against Grischuk in the penultimate round, while Mamedyarov lost a theoretically drawn ending to him in the last round. It's the sort of ending one would expect an amateur or a weak pro (relatively speaking) to lose under pressure. But a super-GM like Mamedyarov? That's the sort of thing that used to happen all the time to Carlsen's opponents when he was an up-and-comer, and it looks like Firouzja has taken his mantle.

Second...will he be the official #2 player at the end of the month? Ding Liren had seemed to have entered hibernation, but then he showed up for an online blitz match against Mamedyarov a couple of weeks ago, and now he's playing a four-game warm-up match with Liu Shanglei. He won the first game to go from 2799 to 2801.6; with another win he overtakes Firouzja. I'm not sure if 3/4 will be enough to do the job, or if he'll need at least 3.5 points, but it's possible that he'll be able to take the tiniest bit of luster off of Firouzja's month--but only the tiniest bit.

Here are Firouzja's last two games from the ETC and Ding's win in the first game of his match.

**UPDATE**

First, a correction. Contrary to the title in the post (since corrected), Ukraine won the ETC, not Russia.

Second, an update on the match between Ding Liren and Lu Shanglei. Above, I wasn't sure if 3/4 would be enough for Ding to surpass Alireza Firouzja on the rating list. Well, now I know. Game two of the match finished in a draw and cost Ding almost all his rating gains from his win in the first game, so Firouzja will finish the month at #2 unless Ding wins both games 3 and 4.

An Update on Tata Steel & the European Team Championship: Firouzja on the Verge of 2800

It's an exciting time in the chess world, with the World Championship match starting in about a week and a new superstar really exploding on the scene.

First, a quick update on the interesting individual event going on in Kolkota, India, the Tata Steel Rapid & Blitz. The rapid event has ended with a surprise victory by the third-lowest rated player in the field, Arjun Erigaisi. A strong day 2 made the difference, as he went 3-0 to take the lead, and his three draws on the last day were enough to secure the victory. The last draw was especially important, as he held off Levon Aronian, who would have caught him with a win. Erigaisi finished with 6.5/9, a point better than Aronian, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (who defeated Erigaisi in round 2), and Santosh Vidit; Murali Karthikeyan and Sam Shankland were a further half a point behind.

Now to the European Team Championship. As far as the team aspect goes, I believe that Ukraine and Azerbaijian are tied for the lead with two rounds to go, but my interest and focus have been on the individual performances. In particular, the ascents of Alireza Firouzja and Alexei Shirov have grabbed my attention: Shirov, because it's nice to see him return to something like his old form; Firouzja, because his results are so ridiculously good, especially for someone who is just 18 years old.

A couple of days ago, I wondered which player would reach the next century mark faster: Firouzja to 2800, or Shirov to 2700? If we round up, then Shirov already managed it yesterday with a messy win over rapidly rising youngster Bogdan-Daniel Deac, which brought him to 2699.7. He drew with Gabriel Sargissian today, costing him a tenth of a point, so his rating will still flip over to 2700 at the end of the month, if he stays where he is. As for Firouzja, he defeated Dimitrios Mastrovasilis and then Baadur Jobava, and that brings him to 2798.9, a point shy of 2800 and into a virtual tie with Ding Liren for second on the live rating list. He has gained an insane 28.9 ratings point this month--a normal event for an 18-year-old, perhaps, but not when that 18-year-old is in the top 10. A win and a draw in the last two games, and he'll break 2800 and hit #2 in the world. If he can keep building on this in the coming year, he'll have a very good shot of earning a world championship match against the winner of the Magnus Carlsen - Ian Nepomniachtchi match.

Speaking of which, please...

Firouzja Now #3 in the World

With four rounds to go in the European Team Championship 18-year-old Iranian-French wunderkind Alireza Firouzja has jumped into third on the live rating list, passing Fabiano Caruana and now trailing only World Champion Magnus Carlsen and Ding Liren. Moreover, he's only six points behind Ding, and 6.2 points away from becoming only the second 18-year-old 2800 in chess history (after Carlsen). It's a fantastic achievement, as his incredible month finds him jumping from one peak to another.

Firouzja began the month with a 2770 rating, and has padded that already lofty number with an additional 23.3 rating points. That's tops among players in the top 100, but the player with the second-largest rating gain this month deserves serious credit as well: Alexei Shirov. Like Firouzja, he had a fantastic result in the FIDE Grand Swiss last week, and while his European Team Championship performance hasn't been as strong as Firouzja's, it has been good enough - his rating has continued to climb. For almost two decades he was at or near the top of world chess, and with an incredible attractive, Tal-like style. He fell below 2700 some years back, but with 22 points in his pocket this month alone he's nearing that level once again, reaching 2695 with his win in the last round.

Will their successes continue? Will Firouzja break 2800 before Shirov returns to 2700? We'll see. For now, here are their wins from round 5, with my comments.

FIDE Grand Swiss: Five Leaders After Six Rounds

Alireza Firouzja, Evgenij Najer, and Alexei Shirov continue to lead the FIDE Grand Swiss after six rounds of 11, but they have been joined by two more players. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave butchered Pavel Ponkratov, while Krishnan Sasikiran overcame Alexandr Predke with Black to make it a five-way tie at 4.5/6. Another 15 players are just half a point back, including Fabiano Caruana, so obviously nothing has been decided at this point.

A few words about some of the games. Firouzja had some winning chances against Shirov, but Mr. Fire on Board's aggressive counterattack saved the day - barely. Najer was definitely winning against Caruana, who may have been taking too many chances in the hopes of defeating a significantly lower-rated opponent. It very nearly cost him the game; indeed, even at the end, when Najer allowed/blundered into a three-time repetition, Caruana's position was probably lost. As already noted above, MVL won in brutal fashion against Ponkratov; all three games mentioned in this paragraph are given, with my comments, here - as are three other games, included on account of some nice tactical points.

Here are the round 7 pairings for the top 10 boards:

1. Firouzja (4.5) - Najer (4.5)
2. Sasikiran (4.5) - Vachier-Lagrave (4.5)
3. Esipenko (4) - Shirov (4.5)
4. Caruana (4) - Sevian (4)
5. Anton (4) - Dubov (4)
6. Yu (4) - Deac (4)
7. Navara (4) - Sarana (4)
8. Petrosyan (4) - Korobov (4)
9. Sargissian (4) - Sarin (4)
10. Tari (4) - Sjugirov (4)

FIDE Grand Swiss, Round 5: Firouzja, Najer, and Shirov Lead with 4 Points Apiece

As usual, there have been lots of draws on the top boards of the FIDE Grand Swiss, so a huge number of players are within striking distance of the lead. Alireza Firouzja continues to lead after his draw, but he has been caught by Evgeniy Najer and - a blast from the past - Alexei Shirov. They each have four points, good for a half point lead over 14 other players, including Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Yu Yangyi, and youngsters Samuel Sevian and Nihal Sarin. All the aforementioned players feature in the pairings for the top 5 boards of round 6: Shirov-Firouzja, Najer-Caruana, MVL-Ponkratov, Sevian-Yu, and Sarin-Navara.

Six rounds remain to determine two more slots for the 2022 Candidates. For now, here are three games from round 5, with my comments.

This Week's World Chess Column: When Chess Was in the Olympics

Many of us are watching the Olympics, and this year's Chess Olympiad starts September 1. But did you know that chess was once in the "real" Olympics? Read more about it here.

Short Interviews with Great Players

Boris Gelfand, Alexei Shirov, Jan Timman and other stars sit down for brief interviews, which you can find here.

This Week's World Chess Column: Shirov Burned by Fire on Board

In my column this week I take a look at the extraordinary tactical free-for-all between Mr. Fire on Board himself, Alexei Shirov, and the young American GM Sam Sevian from the Hasselbacken Chess Open in Stockholm. Surprisingly, it was the youngster who didn't only win but did so by navigating the complications better than his famous opponent. Definitely worth seeing if you haven't yet examined the game, and hopefully even if you have.