Positional Q Sac by Ivanchuk

While playing over some games from Shirov’s Fire On Board I came across the following game from Wijk aan Zee, 1996 where Shirov played the complicated QGD, Semi-Slav, Botvinnik Variation, a defense he eventually came to analyze deeply and play quite often. Many contemporary players have used the Botvinnik Variation: Tahl, Bagirov, Polugayevsky and Shabalov. Shirov’s first experience with this line was in the 1987 Soviet Junior Championship when he defeated Gata Kamsky (playing White). Ivanchuk’s Q-sac for positional compensation at move 21 was found over the board but has since become well known theory. What is amazing is that the position is so complicated that when looking at the came with Fritz, none of the engines could agree on the best lines. An amazing game with many complications.