Alexei Shirov: The Philidor Defence
Videorunning time: 5 hours 52 min
The modern form of the Philidor Defence arises via the move order 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5. After 4.Nf3 Nbd7, Shirov has introduced the pawn sacrifice 5.g4!? and achieved excellent results with it. Accepting the sacrifice leads to a very sharp position full of tactical possibilities and Shirov has been very successful with the white pieces in this line. However Shirov always strives for objectivity and shows the possibilities for Black to navigate the complications as well.
If you find the gambit 5.g4!? too double-edged then Shirov explains the tried and tested, solid strategic approach 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 c6 8.a4.
Shirov presents many of his own games, discussing amongst other things the difficult, but extremely important question of whether or when White can advantageously advance in the centre with d4-d5. The third system presented by Shirov arises after the traditional Philidor move order 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4. Black can try ... exd4, a move popular in the 19th century and now back in fashion. First played by Horwitz against Staunton in 1846 it is popular with many 21st century GMs. Shirov analyses his game against Nisipeanu who with Bacrot is one of the leading proponents of exd4. Shirov shows how White can fight for the advantage here.
System requirements: Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or higher, 64 MB RAM, Windows XP, Windows Vista, DVD drive, mouse, soundcard
About Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov was born and raised in Riga the home town of tactical genius and former world champion Mikhail Tal and his style is reminiscent of the 'Magician of Riga'. In the early 90s, a meteoric rise took the young Latvian into the world's top 10 and at the age of 22 he had an Elo rating of nearly 2750 . Shirov has been one of the world's leading players ever since, delighting chess fans with his boundless creativity and fighting spirit. Shirov's world title ambitions were curtailed when despite defeating Vladimir Kramnik in a Candidates Final, a match could not be organised with Garry Kasparov who played Vladimir Kramnik instead, Shirov continued to enjoy success in tournaments and he reached the final of the 2007 World Cup and was an impressive winner of the 5th Mtel Masters Super Tournament in May 2009
