Clearance - Endgame Fireworks - Alexei Shirov

On this DVD Alexei Shirov shows that also in the endgame, it is possible to keep struggling for the full point to the very last - if you are creative and ambitious. Because even in objectively quite balanced positions, you can frequently find ways to sharpen or complicate the fight. For the tournament player, often all that matters is to be able to pose practical problems which his or her opponent might finally fail to solve. Thus Shirov sees himself rather as an endgame practitioner, attributing his successes in this phase of the game less to concrete knowledge about theoretical positions than to the understanding of general principles, good intuition and exact calculation of variations. One main emphasis of the DVD is the endgame with rooks and opposite colored bishops which Shirov finds particularly interesting, analyzing five examples. Another important feature is the very complex and difficult setting with four rooks (three examples), where he works out most helpful general principles. All in all, Shirov examines 17 examples out of his own practice, among them his famous opposite-colored bishop ending versus Topalov which went around the whole world.

Running time: 4 hours.

Alexei Shirov was born in Riga just like world champion Mihail Tal, and his playing style reminds many chess fans of the young Tal. In the beginning of the 90s, a comet-like rise brought the young Latvian into the world elite. Since then Shirov has been one of the best players in the world, delighting all chess fans with original and amazing ideas on the board.