Shanghai Chess Masters Grand Slam: Shirov qualifies for Bilbao

Alexei Shirov: Ready for Bilbao

Hello Everybody,

Spanish Grandmaster Alexei Shirov has become the first of two players who are to qualify for the Bilbao section of the Grand Slam Chess Masters Event.

He beat Vladimir Kramnik in Shanghai in the fourth round to reach sole first place in the standings. Aronian and Wang Hao drew their game.

The first part of the 2010 Grand Slam Masters Final takes place 3-8 September in Shanghai, China. Aronian, Kramnik, Shirov and Wang Hao play for two qualification spots for the section to be played in Bilbao, Spain with Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand joining them there.

Here is the nice Shirov-Kramnik game. You can run the moves in our pgnplayer or watch in flash below.

PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 c5 5. d5 b5 6. e4 O-O 7. e5 Ne8 8. f4 exd5 9. cxd5 d6 10. Nf3 c4 11. a4 Bg4 12. axb5 Nd7 13. e6 fxe6 14. dxe6 Nb6 15. Be2 Nc7 16. Ng5 Bxe2 17. Qxe2 d5 18. O-O Qf6 19. f5 Rae8 20. Rxa7 Nxe6 21. Nxe6 Rxe6 22. Qf2 Qe5 23. g4 Rg6 24. Qg2 Rgf6 25. Bf4 Qd4+ 26. Qf2 Qxf2+ 27. Kxf2 d4 28. Ne4 R6f7 29. Rxf7 Rxf7 30. Ra1 h6 31. Be5 d3 32. Bd4 Rb7 33. h4 Bf8 34. Rc1 Nd5 35. Rxc4 Rxb5 36. Rc8 Kf7 37. g5 Ne7 38. Nd6+ 1-0

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com