Shirov shines in the fourth round of chess championship

Tuesday, Aug. 10, 1999 | 8:58 a.m.

Shirov, the second seed from Spain, gave up his queen for a rook after he found one brilliant move after another with only seconds left on his clock.

When the Spaniard reached a won position, grandmaster Yasser Seirawan exclaimed, "I have just witnessed one of most exhilarating games I have ever seen."

The seven-round tournament, sponsored by the Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE), features a prize fund of $3 million. A new world champion will be crowned when the tournament concludes on Aug. 29.

Although seven of Monday's eight games ended in draws, most of the players were willing to take risks. Most players appeared to engage in enterprising play which created unbalanced positions. They also seemed willing to part with pieces in order to attain the initiative, or attacking chances.

Shirov sacrificed a knight at move 15 in order to get attacking chances against Short's king. At move 22 Shirov parted with his queen, but by move 28 he said that he felt confident of victory.

At that point Shirov had about 20 seconds to reach move 40 while Short had about five minutes. By the time the players reached move 37, Shirov said that the Englishman had only three or four seconds remaining and had a lost position.

Short, who qualified to play Garry Kasparov for the world championship in 1993, now faces a must win situation in Tuesday's game.

Vladimir Akopian, the 31st seed from Armenia, was forced into a bad position early by Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria. Akopian then sacrificed some material to penetrate into the Bulgarian's position.

Although the 23rd seed Georgiev always seemed better, the Armenian star was able to conjure up enough threats to eventually force a draw.

Top-ranked Vladimir Kramnik of Russia drew Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, the ninth seed. Although the players fought for 49 moves, neither ever seemed to be in great danger of losing.

After opening four straight wins in previous rounds, the sixth seed, Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine was held to a draw by Liviu Nisipeanu of Romania.

The players put their kings on opposite sides of the board. Usually when this occurs, an exciting game ensues with both players attacking. In this case, Ivanchuk seemed to have the stronger attack.

Nisipeanu, the 46th seed, then sacrificed a knight for three pawns - appearing to have the only winning chances. Ivanchuk managed to adjust to the new situation and defended well enough to secure the draw.

In the game between Sergei Movsesian, 20, of the Czech Republic, and Alexei Fedorov of Belarus, the kings were again placed on opposite sides of the board.

Fedorov's attack seemed faster, but the Czech - the youngest player remaining in the tournament - was able to force a draw.

England's Michael Adams, the fifth seed, seemed to be doing well, but his opponent, Alexsey Dreev of Russia managed to trade off most of the pieces. The players agreed to a draw on move 23.

The other two games, featuring Judit Polgar of Hungary vs. Russia's Vadim Zvjaginsev and Alexander Khalifman of Russia against Israel's Boris Gelfand, ended in quiet draws of less than 25 moves.

World champion Anatoly Karpov and Kasparov, who is generally recognized as the strongest player in the world, are not participating due to disputes with FIDE.

The score of first game of the fourth round between Shirov, playing white, and Short:

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6 gxf6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.Bc4 c5 9.00 00 10.Re1 Nb6 11.Bf1 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Kh8 13.c3 e5 14.Qh5 Nd5 15.Rad1 exd4 16.Rxd4 f5 17.Ng3 Bc5 18.Rd2 Qb6 19.Qe2 Nf6 20.Qe5 Kg8 21.h3 Re8 22.Qxe8+ Nxe8 23.Rxe8+ Kg7 24.b4 Qc6 25.Rdd8 Bb6 26.Rg8+ Kf6 27.Nh5+ Ke5 28.Rd3 Qh6 29.Be2 Qc1+ 30.Rd1 Qxc3 31.Bf3 Be6 32.Rxa8 Qxb4 33.Re8 Bd4 34.Rd8 Bb6 35.a3 Qa5 36.R8d2 f4 37.Bg4 Bc4 38.Re1+ Be3 39.Rdd1 Bb3 40.Rb1 Bc2 41.Rb4 f5 42.Bf3 Be4 43.fxe3 Bxf3 44.gxf3 Qxa3 45.Nxf4 b6 46.Rd4 1-0