chess
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Your support makes all the difference.Two queen sacrifices decided games in the third round of the Wijk aan Zee tournament. The first was this splendid finish by Piket (Black) against Van Wely:
Black ended his attack with 1...Qxh4+!! 2.Rxh4 Rxh4+ 3.Kg1 Rd6! and White, with no answer to the threat of Rg6+ and Rh1 mate, resigned.
Then came the game between Vassily Ivanchuk and Alexei Shirov. The first 19 moves were the very latest theory, and Ivanchuk's idea of 20.Qg4+ and 21.Qg7!? must have been prepared in advance. White gives up his queen for two pieces and a huge pawn on g7. Shirov's 23...d4! and 25...Qb6! is an imaginative way to prevent White from obtaining a total bind with Bd4, but Black stumbled into a mating net with 31.Ra6! threatening Rb7+. At the end, White rounds up the c-pawn and wins easily with his K-side pawns.
White: Vassily Ivanchuk
Black: Alexei Shirov
1 d4 d5 19 Be3 Nc5
2 c4 c6 20 Qg4+ Rd7
3 Nc3 Nf6 21 Qg7 Bxg7
4 Nf3 e6 22 fxg7 Rg8
5 Bg5 dxc4 23 Nxc5 d4
6 e4 b5 24 Bxb7+ Rxb7
7 e5 h6 25 Nxb7 Qb6
8 Bh4 g5 26 Bxd4 Qxd4
9 Nxg5 hxg5 27 Rfd1 Qxb2
10 Bxg5 Nbd7 28 Nd6+ Kb8
11 exf6 Bb7 29 Rdb1 Qxg7
12 g3 c5 30 Rxb4+ Kc7
13 d5 Qb6 31 Ra6 Rb8
14 Bg2 0-0-0 32 Rxa7+ Kxd6
15 0-0 b4 33 Rxb8 Qg4
16 Na4 Qb5 34 Rd8+ Kc6
17 a3 exd5 35 Ra1 resigns
18 axb4 cxb4
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