[Event "Riga Tech op 4th"] [Site "Riga"] [Date "2014.08.19"] [Round "4"] [White "Sanders, Isaac B"] [Black "Shirov, Alexei"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B23"] [WhiteElo "2282"] [BlackElo "2709"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2014.08.16"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "LAT"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2014.08.29"] {A great new hope for England in the shape of Isaac Sanders the then [at the time of the game], 16 year old prodigy, had a brilliant sacrificial fest against that great 90's player Alexei Shirov, who was originally from Latvia but now resides in Spain.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {This line is an unusual off shoot of the Sicilian Defence.} Nd4 4. Bc4 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Nxd4 cxd4 7. Qf3 $1 {I similarly had an obvious 1 move mate threat against the equally good [as Alexei] Vishy Anand and I bet that also had him in hesterics as I imagine Alexei was here.} Nh6 (7... dxc3 $4 8. Qxf7#) 8. Ne2 (8. d3 O-O) 8... O-O 9. d3 Ng4 $3 10. Bb3 {now the threat of Qxg4 is back on but it is easy averted by Alexei.} (10. Qxg4 $6 d5 11. Qf3 dxc4 12. dxc4 Qc7 $15) 10... d6 11. Qg3 a5 12. a4 Qb6 13. O-O Nf6 14. Bg5 e6 15. Rae1 Qc5 16. Qh4 Nd7 17. f4 $1 {Isaac has rather intelligently manouvered all his pieces into an attack on the King, how Alexei survives this onslaught with his pieces currently half awake in far flung positions is beyond me.} b5 18. f5 Ne5 19. Rf4 $1 (19. Be7 Re8 20. f6 Bh8 21. axb5 a4 22. Ba2 Bd7 23. Rf4 a3 24. bxa3 Rxa3 25. Bb1 h5 $15) 19... exf5 20. Bh6 $3 bxa4 21. exf5 $3 (21. Bxg7 {is an alternative}) 21... Bxf5 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. Rxf5 $4 {oh no a slip but he will get better with more experience and he is up against one of the best in the World.} (23. Bxa4 $11) 23... axb3 $3 { Of course not the mistake 23...gxf5?? which opens up the Black King.} 24. Qf6+ Kg8 25. Ng3 Nd7 $3 26. Qh4 $6 $19 (26. Rxc5 $19) 26... Qb4 27. Ref1 bxc2 28. Rh5 $1 c1=Q $3 {The Queen must defend the key g5 and h6 squares so that gxh5 is threatened and this move also after the follow up 29...Qd2 gets the other Rook on a threatened square so in effect both Rooks are enprie[ie attacked more than defended]. Also the Rook is enticed away from defending the f6 square from the Knight comming in with what becomes the winning move.} 29. Rxc1 Qd2 30. Nf1 (30. Qg5 {this is really an acknowledgement of defeat.}) 30... Qxc1 31. Rxh7 Nf6 {After 32.Qxf6 comes Kxh7 and after 32.Rh8+ Kg7 defends everything.} 0-1