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Shirov scores lone victory of fourth round

Paul Eriksen in Las Vegas

Alexi Shirov once again began brilliantly and emerged the lone player to notch up a win in the first set of games in the fourth round of the FIDE World Chess Championships at the Emperor's ballroom in Las Vegas.

The Russian, now settled in Spain, had never lost to Nigel Short in any of their previous eight meetings. Shirov had won four times and drawn on as many occassions. Short was unable to improve on that equation and, infact, added one more loss to his account.

Though seven of the eight games ended in draws, there were a lot of exciting battles, notably the ones between Topalov and Kramnik, and the between Georgiev and Akopian. Four of the eight games were Sicilian.

Short played a variation of the French defence, something which Alexander Morozevich - who did not play here - likes. It did blunt Shirov's slight opening advantage, but as the game progressed, the fortunes fluctuated wildly. With both players going into time problems, the game was perhaps the most exciting, prompting experts to consider it as the best thus far.

"The best game of the event so far," according to Larry Christiansen, while Yasser Seirawan called it "totally classic, nothing short of being spectacular."

And Shirov's creativity came in for a lot of praise and that's something which makes him a favourite once again.

Both players managed to make the first time control but Shirov had managed to get into a winning position, which he did not squander and put himself in a good position at 1-0. But in the past matches, Shirov has lost the second after winning the first. For Short, it will be a do-or-die situation.

Shirov admitted he missed a good move 17. ...Bc5 from Short which saw him getting on top.

Forcing play saw Shirov part with his Queen for only a Rook! On move 24, Short could have bailed out of the complications. But Short's 28th move of 28. .. Qh6 was probably the error which ultimately cost him the game. The end came after 46 moves.

The quickest game to get over was the one between Judit Polgar and Vadim Zvjaginsev. After an uninspiring Sicilian opening from Polgar, Zvjaginsev managed an easy draw in just 18 moves.

Veselin Topalov took a new approach against the Petroff to claim a comfortable opening advantage against Vladimir Kramnik. Topalov pressed for the entire session but was unable to break Black's formidable defenses. Kramnik played well for a draw in 51 moves.

In a queen's gambit accepted, Adams drew with Dreev. A lot of pieces got exchanged in the middlegame. Most of the fun had been taken out and a draw was arrived at after 23 moves.

Alexander Khalifman and Boris Gelfand also reached a draw from a Sicilian Najdorf in 21 moves.

Livu Nisipeanu utilized active piece play to go after Ivanchuk's King in a dynamic struggle. Ivanchuk hardly used any time in the opening. After 14 moves he had more time on the clock than with what he started, because of the 30 seconds addition for each move he made.

In another wildly swinging game, Ivanchuk seemed to have advantage at times, but it finally ended in a draw after 55 moves.

Fedorov choose the classical dragon Sicilian in his game against Movsesian. There was a bluff capture from Fedorov, and the game ended in a draw in 37 moves.

Kiril Georgiev and Vladimir Akopian had an intriguing game from an English opening. Georgiev had a static advantage having doubled his opponents queenside pawns. However, Akopian had the makings of a Kingside initiative. Georgiev tried to work his advantage but all he got was a draw from 54 moves.

Results of the first game of fourth round:
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu drew with Vassily Ivanchuk

Alexander Khalifman drew Boris Gelfand
Judit Polgar drew with Vadim Zvjaginsev
Kiril Georgiev drew with Vladimir Akopian
Sergei Movsesian drew with Alexei Fedorov
Michael Adams drew with Alexy Dreev
Veselin Topalov drew with Vladimir Kramnik
Alexei Shirov beat Nigel Short

Latest odds before start of fourth round:
3-1 Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) and Alexei Shirov (Spain)
7-1 Michael Adams (England)
8-1 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
9-1 Boris Gelfand (Israel)
12-1 Nigel Short (England)
20-1 Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Kiril Georgiev (Bulgaria), Sergei Movsesian (Czech) ; Alexei Fedorov (Belarus); Alexy Dreev (Russia) 25-1, Alexander Khalifman (Russia), Judith Polgar (Hungary), Vadim Zvjaginsev (Russia)
40-1 Vladimir Akopian (Armenia)
66-1 Liviu Nisipeanu (Romania)
13/8 A Russian winner (Kramnik, Khalifman, Dreev, Zvjaginsev,)
4/1 An English winner (Adams or Short)