Ken Marshall in action

The longtime editor of the Illinois Chess Bulletin can push pawns, too, as he proved earlier today at the Illinois Open:

William Aramil, hypermodern Shirov

One thinks of the c6-d5-e6 triangle as an incredibly sturdy defensive formation for Black.  NM William Aramil simply goes around the triangle and mates Black's king in a miniature. Very cool, very impressive!

This win was worth $1,533.34 to William, who took a share of second in the Under 2300 section with an undefeated 5½/7   The loser, NM Kevin Wasikuk of Minnesota, was an even bigger winner: he had already clinched the $5,000 first prize in the section by winning his first six games.

Round 1: Xu-Harihara

I was going to title this post "Penny Xu, bloodthirsty killer," but thought better of it.

I've seen a few games of the winner of the 2012 Greater Peoria Open: kingside attacks are her thing!

Xu-Harihara

White to play

The real attacking prowess was in building up this already-decisive position: Xu's execution is ruthless.

23.Bxh6 (OK, we all saw that) 23...Rg8 24.Rf1 Nac4 25.Bxc4 Nxc4

 Xu-Harihara

White to play

26.Qf4 f6 27.Qh4 (she makes it look simple, no?) 27...gxh6

Xu-Harihara

White to play and crunch

28.Rxf6! and White won in a couple moves...

Rosen-Zhao, round 4

Eric Rosen had a near miss yesterday against Parker Zhao:

 After 27...Qxd7: White to play and win

(Yes, White's first move is the "obvious" one, but I guarantee you that both players saw this move and were analyzing it.  Can you see what they missed?  Answer in the notes below.)

The one that got away....

Rosen-Robson, US Junior Invoitational 2010

After 42...Rb2

White to play and win

Another classic Andrew Karklins game

Fire on Board

If you're rated at least 1600 and haven't already read Fire On Board: Shirov's Best Games, please do yourself a favor and buy a copy. Even though Shirov has reached the ripe old age of 37, he hasn't lost his touch. His last round game against Dominguez (agreed drawn in a crazy time scramble) was pure genius.

Shirov-Dominguez, Corus 2010

After 21...h6; White to move

Black has the two bishops, the small pawn center (e6 and d6) that Sicilian players love, and a natural plan of attacking White's king.  White has a monster pawn on g6 and the semi-open h-file, and it's his move: every move is vital in these opposite-side castling positions.

White's problem is that a direct sacrifice like 22.Rxh6?! gxh6 23.Qxh6 (threatening mate on h7) fails to 23...Bc8).  

White can simply grab the d-pawn, but Rybka tells me that Black gets good activity for the pawn after 22.Qxd6 Qxd6 23.Rxd6 b4.  It's possible that this is objectively the best line:--as of today, who knows?

So what move did Shirov find?

And if you can't stand the suspense, the full game is here.