Alexei Shirov wins Gazprom Brilliancy Prize
Alexei Shirov has been proclaimed the winner of the Gazprom Brilliancy Prize, a special trophy awarded by the General Partner of the Online Chess Olympiad. The game that earned Shirov this prize was his victory with the Black pieces against Danyyil Dvirnyy, in the match Spain – Italy that took place in the Pool C of Division 2. The game was a Slav Defense in which Alexei came up with a novelty relatively early in the game, 14…Qb8 instead of the queen’s exchange proposal that implies the most common continuation 14…Qb6. Shirov’s attack on the Queenside progressed much faster than Danyyil’s advances on the Kingside, and the Spaniard achieved a crushing victory in just 29 moves with an elegant checkmate thread following a Queen sacrifice. This isn’t the first brilliancy prize in Shirov’s career, and for sure it won’t be the last. The Spaniard remains one of the most popular players among chess fans on account of his uncompromising style and fighting spirit, and he is always willing to jump into the sharpest possible continuation that the position has to offer. During the Online Olympiad, Alexei demonstrated to be in very good shape, and this is just one of the dozen victories he scored with the Spanish team. He totaled 13 points in 15 games, with just 1 defeat and 2 draws. FIDE had invited a panel of 14 popular Streamers and YouTubers to be the judges for the Gazprom Brilliancy Prize, asking them to give 3 points to their favorite game, 2 to their second favorite, and 1 to the third. Ten out of the fourteen judges picked Shirov’s game as their top choice, announcing their votes in their respective channels. Final results: Dvirnyy – Shirov, 33 points Kapitanchuk – Kozak, 18 points Anand – Maghsoodloo, 10 pointsNoritsyn – So, 10 pointsPavlidis – Ftacnik, 4 pointsSalman – Aziz, 4 pointsXiong – Esipenko, 3 pointsGunina – Gara, 1 pointZabi – Napoleao, 1 point These are the votes, judge by judge, and the links to their respective videos: Anna Cramling (Sweden) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7301845123 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov2 points: Noritsyn – So1 point: Kapitanchuk – Kozak Anna-Maja Kazarian (Netherlands) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7279364513 points: Noritsyn – So 2 points: Salman – Aziz 1 point: Zaibi – Napoleao Antonio Radic (Croatia) https://youtu.be/3kNznwra7yg3 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov2 points: Pavlidis – Ftacnik1 point: Kapitanchuk – Kozak Ayelen Martinez (Argentina) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7300949683 points: Anand – Maghsoodloo2 points: Noritsyn – So1 point: Kapitanchuk – Kozak Carlos Matamoros (Ecuador) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7291819753 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov2 points: Anand – Maghsoodloo1 point: Noritsyn – So Daniel King (UK) https://www.youtube.com/user/PowerPlayChess3 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov2 points: Anand – Maghsoodloo1 point: Noritsyn – So Daniel Naroditsky (USA) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7307617313 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov 2 points: Kapitanchuk – Kozak 1 point: Xiong – Esipenko Eric Rosen (USA) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7306656043 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov2 points: Anand – Maghsoodloo1 point: Noritsyn – So Fiona Steil Antoni (Luxemburg) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7272053693 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov 2 points: Kapitanchuk – Kozak 1 point: Salman – Aziz Jesse February (South Africa) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/727913527 3 points: Kapitanchuk – Kozak 2 points: Xiong – Esipenko 1 point: Dvirnyy – Shirov Maria Emelianova (Russia) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/7300306003 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov 2 points: Pavlidis – Ftacnik 1 point: Anand – Maghsoodloo Michael Rahal (Spain) https://youtu.be/WP1GSRgtB3s3 points: Kapitanchuk – Kozak 2 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov 1 point: Salman – Aziz Sagar Shah & Amruta Mokal (India) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzJPLw4AoFM3 points: Dvirnyy vs Shirov2 points: Vidit – Nepomniachtich1 point: Kapitanchuk – Kozak Simon Williams (UK) https://youtu.be/CVRrQ_1N06s3 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov 2 points: Kapitanchuk – Kozak 1 point: Gunina – Ticia Gara