Alexander Shabalov

Alexander Shabalov, Seattle 2002
Association	Soviet Union (until 1991) Latvia (1992 to 1993) United States (since 1994)
Born	September 12, 1967 Riga
title	International Master (1989) Grand Master (1991)
Current  Elo rating	2528 (August 2020)
Best Elo rating	2645 (July 1998)
Tab at the FIDE (English)

Alexander Shabalov ( Latvian Aleksandrs Šabalovs ; Russian Александр Анатольевич Шабалов , Alexander Anatoljewitsch Schabalow ; born September 12, 1967 in Riga ) is an American grandmaster and multiple US champion in the game of chess .

Career

Alexander Shabalov, who grew up in what was then Soviet-occupied Latvia , had his first chess successes in the Soviet Union . In 1982 he won the USSR Championships for under 16s. His coaches at that time included Vladimir Bagirow and his compatriot, the 1960 world chess champion , Michail Tal . Shabalov decided to pursue a professional chess career in 1988 and three years later won the title of grandmaster. In 1992 in Manila he took part in a chess Olympiad for the first time , playing on the third board, he finished fifth with the Latvian national team. In the same year Shabalov left his homeland and moved to the United States, where he has lived in Pittsburgh ever since.

Between 1994 and 2004 Shabalov played another four chess Olympiads for the USA team, with whom he won the silver medal behind Russia in 1998 in Elista . His greatest successes in individual tournaments include his victory at the highly endowed US Open in 1993 and the Chicago Open in 2003. He was also able to win the US championships three times : in 1993 he shared the title with Alex Yermolinsky , he is the sole winner of the year 2003 and last won in Stillwater in 2007 with 7 points from 9 games, half a point ahead of defending champion Alexander Onischuk (+6 = 2 −1). In 2000 he tied for first place with Joel Benjamin and Yasser Seirawan , but the title went to Benjamin after a playoff.

In the United States Chess League , he played in 2008 for the New York Knights and in 2009 for Tennessee Tempo . In February 2015, he is 33rd in the US Elo ranking.

Game example

Shabalov - Akobian
Seattle 2003

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

Position after 55 ... Ke7 – e8

At the US Championships in Seattle in 2003, Shabalov was tied at the top with seven other players with 5.5 points each from 8 games before the final round. While his rivals shied away from the risk of falling out of the prize ranks due to a defeat and agreed on a draw in moves 8, 9 and 13 in their matches , Shabalov played his game against the then 19-year-old Varuzhan Akobian . After a changeable course of the game, in which "Shabba" had two pawns less at times, the present diagram was created in which Shabalov used an elegant opportunity to win. Black's hopes rest on the building of a fortress , but after the queen sacrifice 56. Qh4 – f6, Black's position quickly collapses, as the remaining bishop is overwhelmed by the white passed pawns . It followed:

56. Dh4-f6 Tc6xf6 57. e5xf6 Bd7 e6 58. c5-c6 g6-g5 59. f5-f4 f4xg5 60. g5-g6 f4xg3 61. f6-f7 + and Akobian gave up the pawn can not be prevented.

With this win, Shabalov secured the championship title and first prize of $ 25,000.

Web links

Commons : Alexander Shabalov  - collection of images

• Replayable chess games by Alexander Shabalov on chessgames.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Alexander Shabalov's results at the Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
2. ↑ Shabalov at the United States Chess Federation (English)
3. ^ Mig Greengard: Mig at the US Championships ( Memento December 11, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) in The Week in Chess
4. ↑ The 2003 US Championships at chessbase.com (English)