Kramnik Vs. Shirov - #1 contender match, Final Game Pt.2

International chess superstar Alexei Shirov gives a first-hand account of his 1998 clash in Cazorla, Spain with Vladimir Kramnik - in a match held to decide who would become the Official Challenger to WCC World Champion Garry Kasparov in a World Championship Match.

This is the 9th and final game.

Part 2 of 2

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[mattiassollerman]

Shirov beat Kramnik and Kramnik beat Kasparov so Shirov should officially be crowned the Ultimate Bad Ass Retroactive World Champion of Chess.

[illmaculatechess]

shirov is bad ass

[lawbrn67]

I anticipated this match so much and it's a pity that it never took place. Shirov was certainly a worthy contender in the late 90s.

[SuperPeristilo]

Shirov is incredibly deep and powerfull in his calculations, but I think he wouldn't have good chances against Kasparov because his style is too agressive and Garry is too good in complications and sharp games.

[JoshWiniberg]

The lengths these people go to in order to gain a tempo. Pure endgame wizardry from Shirov.

[playpuzzles]

Perhaps Kramnik was a stronger challenger to Kasparov's crown at the time, not saying he was or wasn't, but when you do such a gross disregard to the rules and fair play as was done here it devalues the whole thing far beyond what having a supposedly lesser challenger for the match could ever be.

Would Shirov have won?

We'll never know! But its very possible that a match between Shirov and Kasparov would have produced more interesting and exciting chess then the one we ended up with.

[almondcoconuts]

@mattiassollerman Shirov's Kasprov rating is +1

[yablecki]

@123ggn Yes, Morphy was very accurate, but even so, I think that Fischer had the intuition, not to mention 100 more years of theory. If only they could come back and play now...

[123ggn]

@yablecki

Bobby Fischer himself said that Paul Morphy was perhaps the most accurate player who ever lived, he would go on to say that Paul Morphy would beat anybody today in a set-match.

[IStehSHIT]

that text in the ending made me sad. This hypocrite world we live in