I like Shirov as well and definitely his Bxh6 sac was highly suspect even to a novice like me. But I am cheering him on ......

However, I hope he does not self-destruct like he has done so in the past ... I read this in Aagaard's book, Excelling at Chess** where Aagaard mentioned that Shirov at Wijk Aan See 2001 was ahead by a point but  then lost several games and then self-destructed against Ivanchuk.

The games in Corus B and C are quite instructive as well ... I finally got to see (staying on my theme!) Shirov's (in)famous Phillidor Gambit (g4) in action and White went on to win in Van Kampen-Sjoerd Plukkel game. Also Harakrishna's KIA was good to see in action at this level (2600-2700) (I know it is nothing special). As you can guess, my "guide" to the games are taken from Chessvibes who has a good summary of the games.

** BTW (and not intending to hijack the thread), I just wonder whether there has been any discussion of the Aagaard's description of GMs in his book, esp of Anand, Shirov, Movsesian et al. Wonder what Aagaard thinks now of Anand ...???

Shirov was a lucky boy today - 33... rce8 was the way to go for Smeets.
Short did well v magnus although his opening wasn't a success white's qd3 was a mistake but plaudits to Nigel for 2 draws v the top 2 in the world. Perhaps this will kick start his tourney......
Leko's draw was another Marshall success.
Nakamura's Dutch was another line that showed that opening needs more respect

Inspired play by Shirov, but I think he got very lucky.  His 26.Bxh6 sac was unsound.  Without the helpful blunder by Smeets (33...Rcd8??), Shirov would have been struggling—maybe even losing.  At best he would've had the worse end of a difficult draw.  I'm glad he won though.  A 4-0 start!  Wow!

Nakamura and Carsen both drew and fall a 1/2 point further back.  Since Nakamura played well against Anand (who complained in a recent Twitter message to friends and followers that he is “still struggling with poor form” according to the Corus sight), his performance is still in line with his boasting. 

Ivanchuk's win over Van Wely puts him in a 3-way tie for second with 3/4.

Antillian wrote on 01/19/10 at 16:45:39:



Man, what is Shirov smoking out there  

Ah Yes, it's the other players, after rolling them up 

Amazing stuff from Shirov 4-0. Wow!

Keano wrote on 01/19/10 at 10:48:54:


Don't know... he really went down without much of a fight in those 2 games. Seems he is in horrible shape (London wasn't that great either) and then you get to play the world's elite. Though!

I think the lower half of the rating table is in for a hell of a tournament. Shirov on fire, Naka and Carlsen charging up the table and Ivanchuck showing signs of return to form. And I can't imagine that Anand and kramnik will not win some games. 

Sadly Nigel Short is not playing well ! He needs to do more prep to compete - he showed what he could do v anand. Why he avoided the Richer Rauser where he has a great score is beyond me !

Having seen the draw he has Black against the big boys and is in for a hard time. If we could do a poll for last, he would get my vote. I hope that he proves me wrong.