[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Thoughts on Ivanchuk-Karjakin and originality

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Thoughts on Ivanchuk-Karjakin and originality
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1205906931.shtml


   As fantastic as [1]Ivanchuk's 14.Qxe6!! really is, it's possibly not
   quite as original an idea as one might think, for three reasons.
   The first is that it was discovered in home prep and not over the
   board - unlike his famous Qg7!! against Shirov. (This game is linked
   below.) To my mind, this isn't a blemish, but there are some who find
   themselves less inclined to rate a game highly when significant
   portions of it are the product of home analysis. A notable example is
   game 10 of the Kasparov-Anand match, where Kasparov won with a
   stupendous torrent of sacrifices that not only won the game, but went
   a long way towards winning the match as well thanks to the big chance
   of momentum. Another example, albeit on a smaller scale, comes from
   the USCL 2007 Game of the Year countdown. On its merits, the game
   Martinez-Zilberstein is arguably the cleanest and most brilliant of
   the contenders. The key tactical ideas had been discovered beforehand,
   though, and in an [2]online poll for the GOTY it seems to have
   received a bit less credit than I think it would have, had Martinez
   found all the moves over the board (or at least not admitted he
   hadn't).
   The second is that 14.Qxe6 is discovered by chess engines; not right
   away, but it doesn't take them hours, either. I don't know if Ivanchuk
   found it or his computers did, but supposing it was Rybka or Fritz,
   should the game be valued less highly?
   Third, while I can't think of any similar sacrifices, the position
   after the sac does remind me of a position that arose in a famous
   Elephant Gambit game between Tal and Lutikov. (A side note about
   Lutikov: he's probably best known, for those who know him at all, for
   this game. As usual with those who get "posterized", that's a bit of
   bad luck. He's a GM, and one with an impressive 5-2 career advantage
   over Tal in decisive games.) Suppose Ivanchuk drew subconscious
   inspiration from that game. Would it count against the brilliance and
   originality of his idea?
   By all means, readers, let me know your opinions. For your
   entertainment, you can replay all the games mentioned above [3]here
   (except for the Ivanchuk-Karjakin game, which is [4]here).

References

   1. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1205904554.shtml
   2. http://poll.pollhost.com/dXNjaGVzc2xlYWd1ZQkxMTk4Mjk1ODE4CUVFRUVFRQkwMDAwMDAJQXJpYWwJQXNzb3J0ZWQ/
   3. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/brilliant_or_original.htm
   4. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/amber2008_rd4.htm