Wesley So vs Alexey Shirov, Slav Defense, Quiet Variation D11
19th Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2011, Round 2, Sweden
This game is one of the most valuable resources for understanding positional chess and the significant of piece activity. Wesley So is a remarkable player, but he had rarely outplayed someone as he did Shirov in this game. Any Slav player and any 1. d4 player will surely find it extremely useful.
They played a Quiet Slav, in which white plays e3 before developing the c1 bishop. This makes the positions quite different to most Slav variations. White will most often try to occupy the e5 square, which So did immediately, and then pressure black in the center and on the kingside.
What’s remarkable about this game is a move Wesley So chose, which was so powerful that it was obvious Shirov was dead lost (even though the material was equal and that there were still almost all the pieces on the board.
Game moves:
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. b3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 Bd6
7. Bb2 Qe7 8. Ne5 Bb4+ 9. Nd2 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Nd7 11. a3 Ba5
12. O-O f6 13. Nf3 Bc7 14. exf6 Nxf6 15. Ne5 O-O 16. f4 Bd7
17. Rf3 Be8 18. Qc2 Bxe5 19. Bxe5 Ne4 20. Bxe4 dxe4 21. Rff1
Bg6 22. c5 Rfd8 23. Bd6 Qf7 24. Rad1 Bf5 25. Rd4 Rd7 26. h3 h5
27. Rfd1 Qg6 28. Kh2 h4 29. Qf2 Qh5 30. R1d2 Kh7 31. Be5 Rf7
32. Rd7 Raf8 33. R2d6 Kg8 34. Rxf7 Rxf7 35. Rd8+ Kh7 36. a4 a6
37. Qe1 Bg6 38. Kg1 Bf5 39. Qf2 Bg6 40. Kf1 Rf5 41. Ke1 Be8
42. Qd2 Qg6 43. Rb8 Qg3+ 44. Qf2 Bh5 45. Rxb7 Rf7 46. Qxg3
hxg3 47. Rb6 Rd7 48. Bd6 e5 49. fxe5 Rf7 50. e6 Rf2 51. Bxg3
Rxg2 52. Bf4 g5 53. Kf1 Rc2 54. Bxg5 Rxc5 55. h4 Kg6 56. e7
Kf5 57. Rb8 Re5 58. Rf8+ Kg4 59. Kg2 1-0