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.

Not often one can see a queen sacrifice in a game of grandmasters. But there is no surprise when Alexei Shirov is behind the pieces!

Game Dvirnyy-Shirov is the winner of the Gazprom Brilliancy Prize for the best game of the 2020 Online #ChessOlympiad. pic.twitter.com/IVWsB8miSu

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 4, 2020

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 points
Noritsyn – So, 10 points
Pavlidis – Ftacnik, 4 points
Salman – Aziz, 4 points
Xiong – Esipenko, 3 points
Gunina – Gara, 1 point
Zabi – 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/730184512
3 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov
2 points: Noritsyn – So
1 point: Kapitanchuk – Kozak

Anna-Maja Kazarian (Netherlands) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/727936451
3 points: Noritsyn – So
2 points: Salman – Aziz
1 point: Zaibi – Napoleao

Antonio Radic (Croatia) https://youtu.be/3kNznwra7yg
3 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov
2 points: Pavlidis – Ftacnik
1 point: Kapitanchuk – Kozak

Ayelen Martinez (Argentina) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/730094968
3 points: Anand – Maghsoodloo
2 points: Noritsyn – So
1 point: Kapitanchuk  – Kozak

Carlos Matamoros (Ecuador) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/729181975
3 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov
2 points: Anand – Maghsoodloo
1 point: Noritsyn – So

Daniel King (UK) https://www.youtube.com/user/PowerPlayChess
3 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov
2 points: Anand – Maghsoodloo
1 point: Noritsyn – So

Daniel Naroditsky (USA) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/730761731
3 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov
2 points: Kapitanchuk – Kozak
1 point: Xiong – Esipenko

Eric Rosen (USA) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/730665604
3 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov
2 points: Anand – Maghsoodloo
1 point: Noritsyn – So

Fiona Steil Antoni (Luxemburg) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/727205369
3 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/730030600
3 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov
2 points: Pavlidis – Ftacnik
1 point: Anand – Maghsoodloo

Michael Rahal (Spain) https://youtu.be/WP1GSRgtB3s
3 points: Kapitanchuk – Kozak
2 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov
1 point: Salman – Aziz

Sagar Shah & Amruta Mokal (India) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzJPLw4AoFM
3 points: Dvirnyy vs Shirov
2 points: Vidit – Nepomniachtich
1 point: Kapitanchuk – Kozak

Simon Williams (UK) https://youtu.be/CVRrQ_1N06s
3 points: Dvirnyy – Shirov
2 points: Kapitanchuk – Kozak
1 point: Gunina – Ticia Gara

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