Polgar’s Pick: Shabalov the Attacker
by GM Susan Polgar with FM Paul Truong (Chess Life)
Alex Shabalov has perhaps the most colorful chess style of all U.S. grandmasters. A few years ago, Alex was named the Grandmaster of the Year by the USCF for winning just about every major tournament in sight, including the U.S. Championship. It was the kind of successful year that is hard to duplicate.
Alex is known as a fierce attacker. Instead of playing safe, he is always taking chances and going all out for the win, just like his compatriot, the late World Champion Mikhail “the Magician from Riga” Tal. Such methods yield many incredibly exciting games.
This fascinating game is a perfect example of his entertaining style. Enjoy!
Isle of Man 2006
2007-09-23
White: Dworakowska, J.
Black: Shabalov, A.
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Nd5 Nxd5 8.exd5 Ne7 9.c3 Nf5 10.a4 g6 11.Be2 Bg7 12.O-O O-O 13.Qb3 Re8 14.Na3 Nh6 15.a5 f5 16.Bb5 Rf8 17.a6 f4 18.axb7 Bxb7 19.Bd3 Rb8 20.Qa2 f3 21.g3 e4 22.Bc4 Qd7 23.Re1 Ng4 24.Nc2 Nxf2 25.Kxf2 Qh3 26.Nd4 Qg2+ 27.Ke3 Bh6+ 0-1
Click here for full analysis of the game.
Thx for the analyzed game! I hope to see more of those on this blogg.
/P-J
Thx for the entry !
Very nice
I had a chance to meet Shabalov the last, snowy, weekend in January near Cleveland, OH. He was the top player in the Cardinal Open and was waiting around for the final game on board 2 of the open section to finish to see if would be able to take sole posession of first place. We talked for a half hour or so. He seems very friendly, soft spoken, given to sly humor, and somewhat gossipy when it comes to other GMs.
My favorite moment of our conversation was when another player, interrupting, asked him “So, do you *usually* win these little weekend swiss tournaments?” “Well,” he shrugged, “that rating isn’t for nothing.”
Another Shabalov encounter:
I was at the HB Global Chess Challenge, in the analysis room, watching Gregory Kaidanov and Maurice Ashley go over the live games that were still going on. Shabalov wandered in, sat down, and didn’t say much for a while. Kaidanov and Ashley were going very deeply into an interesting position which seemed to have a pretty clear, best continuation. Ashley, noting the presennce of the former US Champion n the Hall: “So, Alex, what do you think?” He immediately replied “Don’t ask me, I’m learning something here…”