The quickest vs the most creative

Villarrobledo has again hosted a rapid chess tournament, with many of the world’s best chess players participating. And as usual, among the winners are the best players out of the best: the world’s quickest Grandmaster, Vishy Anand, and the world’s most creative chess player, Alexey Shirov. It is surprising to see the Indian champion beat the chess players who are lower in class so consistently. It is interesting to note that, when confronted by him, everyone plays with reinforced energy. More to the point: though chess is rather a drawish game, few manage to stand their ground against him. Even fewer manage to outplay him. The event took place on August 18-19. Vishy scored 7.5 points in 9 rounds, sharing first place with Alexey Shirov in the Swiss system tournament. Shirov’s tiebreak scoring proved worse. Half a point behind were the pursuers: A. Kolev (BUL), L. Ljubojevic (YUG), Å. Agrest (SWE), B. Lalic (ENG), D. Collas (FRA), À. Chernin and others. Here are a few selected games of the champions.